It's Never Too Late
by Raeleon
Summary: Follow the lives of Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde and their time in the city and as officers as they overcome the various challenges of being the first rabbit and fox in the ZPD as they discover their love for each other. All while uncovering a brutal plot rampaging through the city's underbelly! Set after the movie. Rating due to language and possible violence. Will upgrade if needed.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone! This story has really been a great joy to write. However, I feel as though this first chapter doesn't get everybody off on the right foot. If you're reading this story for the first time, please consider giving the next chapter a read, even if this one doesn't totally catch your attention. These characters and this world are complicated and challenging to write and yet so very fun to write and rewarding too. I hope to keep seeing readers come in and share my own story with everyone. And no matter what, thanks for trying!**

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It's Never Too Late  
Chapter 1

It was finally the end of the day. To an outsider, it would appear as though nothing was changing. The bustling station was as lively now as it had been an hour ago, and would be as lively still an hour from now. Citizens were filing in and out, officers were filing their final reports for the day while others were strolling in to get started. The Chief was heading around to various offices and cubicles to follow up on this or that. In all fairness, there was no real "end" to the work. However, for Judy Hopps, the day was over.

It was a quarter to five, and Judy was adding some final touches to the report on the screen in front of her. The day itself had been uneventful, bordering on lackluster. Nothing major had happened, nothing exciting, nothing unusual. Patrol had been the same as the day before, filled with light-hearted jokes and mindless banter between partners. The report today was just a summary of the non-events that had fallen in their path: a jaywalker here, a broken tail light there. In all honesty, the only truly notable things were things she wouldn't put on the report.

"Hopps, anything on that report I need to know before it comes to me?"

Chief Bogo had somehow, despite his size, managed to sneak up on Judy at her desk. She turned an ear his way as he spoke, continuing to type without looking at him.

"No sir, just the usual. Nothing exciting today," she said distractedly. She heard the Chief snort quickly in acknowledgement, and heard his footsteps fade down the walkway.

"Well, nothing that he needs to know about."

The voice of her partner betrayed the smirk on his face. Judy looked over at him for a moment, his smirking gaze meeting her blank one, and for a moment she got lost in the memory of a particularly half assed joke he had told earlier, a real lazy bit of humor that she had nonetheless found more amusing than she would like to admit.

"Officer Wilde, if spectacularly limp jokes were a crime, your every word would be worthy of this report," she said to him, now smirking herself. He frowned.

"Carrots, count yourself as blessed that I happen to grace you with my own unique brand of superior wit," he said, placing a hand on his chest, his expression serious. They stared at each other a moment longer before they both burst into laughter.

"Let me finish this report so we can get out of here," she said as she turned back to face her computer, now with a smile stuck on her face.

"It's alright," he said lightly. "Not everyone can be as efficient as I."

She smirked as she let out a breath, not quite a laugh but close. She resumed typing as she heard Nick roll his chair lazily to his printer, listening as he flicked through the pages to check his work, and then as he stapled it together and stood up.

"I'll be back in a sec," he said as she heard him walk away towards Clawhauser's desk. The cheetah receptionist was working diligently himself organizing reports into the proper destination bins. Each report had to be classified by its level of urgency or follow up required. Given the day she and Nick had today, their reports would both fall quickly into the same one: "Resolved."

Within a minute of his departure, she was done and printing her own reports. She checked them after they had printed, admiring her work and then she put it together and walked over to Clawhauser as well. When he came into view, she saw that Nick was still there, chatting with Clawhauser and she heard them both laugh after Nick said something. She couldn't fathom what the two were discussing, but a million possibilities began swirling around in her mind.

"Hey Judy!" Clawhauser said as she approached, his tone and face betraying his excitement to share what he and Nick had been discussing. "Nick claims he got you again today?"

Judy sighed, looking first at Clawhauser, then at Nick. Nick was staring back at her already, his signature smirk plastered on his face, his eyes half-lidded as they were wont to do when he was being particularly crafty. She placed her report in Clawhauser's waiting paws, and then sighed again.

By "got you again today," of course, Clawhauser meant that Nick had managed to trick her into singing in their cruiser and allowed him to record her. She was not amused this time.

 _"And the sun and the rain are falling together…"_

Judy's singing came crackling out of that carrot pen, held aloft in Nick's left paw as he leaned his right side on the desk. His smirk had somehow gotten bigger, his eyes were now open wide, and he looked like he was about to explode with giddy laughter.

"Wilde, the only thing worse than my singing is your doofy grin right now."

Nick couldn't hold it in any longer, and both he and Clawhauser erupted into raucous laughter. Half the animals in the lobby turned to look at them. Judy smiled despite herself.

"Oh no, watch out Ben! She's enjoying it! Better run!" Nick taunted, lowering his paw to hand Judy the pen. She snatched it from him before she smiled in earnest.

"Dumb fox," she said quietly. He smirked back at her.

"Anything else you need from us today, Ben?" Nick said, turning to the cheetah. He shook his head no, and then turned to resume filing the reports piled in front of him.

With that, Nick and Judy walked back to their shared office space and gathered up their things and prepared to depart.

"Wait for me a minute, I brought a change of clothes," Nick said as he walked toward the locker room. Judy pulled out her phone and refreshed her Furbook feed and had only managed to scroll through about five stories before Nick returned.

"Let's go," he said, and they walked quietly together to the time clock, and after punching out for the day they walked to the parking lot together.

The sun was still high in the sky, but beginning its journey to the horizon. The warmth of the summer day was pleasant for the both of them. They both stood outside the doors for a moment, taking in the scene in front of them. Kids were playing in the park in front of the station, laughing and having little worry except who would win whatever game they were playing. The freeway overpass to their left was as loud as ever this time of day, and from the looks of things, traffic was as tight as ever.

"Ready?" Judy broke their reverie, looking up at Nick's peaceful expression. He looked at her, popped on his sunglasses, and nodded. Together they walked to Judy's car, a small pick up truck not unlike the one her parents had, and got in.

The drive was uneventful. They were both excited to be done with such a boring day at work, and their conversation quickly turned to planning for the evening.

"I heard that 'The Pawshank Redemption' is up on Dodo Plus, have you ever seen that one?" Nick asked, watching Judy as she focused ahead of them.

"Are you kidding?" she asked incredulously. "Are you seriously asking if I, Judy Hopps, have ever seen a classic piece of film?" She put her right paw on her chest as she spoke, imitating his faux-hurt from earlier. He laughed.

"I had to ask, sometimes you country folk forget that things besides dirt and plants and dirt exist," he teased. "Ow!" He hadn't seen her paw leave her chest and smack backhanded into his chest.

"That's what you get," she said, half smirking to herself. She put her hand back on the wheel and they came to a red light.

Nick hesitated before speaking again, "Do you wanna watch it though? I mean, I haven't seen it in years and like you said, it's a classic."

She thought for a moment, looking up to the left as though considering if she had more pressing matters to attend to, before she looked at him from the corner of her eye and said, "I suppose I don't have anything better to do than watch an old movie with you." He smirked. "But I get to pick the food this time!" she blurted with mock indignation.

"Is there something wrong with the food I pick?" He asked, again feigning offense.

"When all you ever pick is the worst possible chinese take out? Yes! There is something wrong with the food you pick!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide and her ears sticking straight up. The light turned green.

"Carrots, keep your voice down. Chinese food is everywhere! _It will hear you!"_

"I don't think chinese food can possibly hurt me worse than it already has, Wilde," she said lazily. They both smiled, and fell into a comfortable silence.

After several blocks, the sun had finally started to set, and the city was bathed in an orange glow. Nick sighed contently, and closed his eyes before speaking.

"What do you want to eat, then? And don't say pizza," he added, and though his eyes were closed, he could hear her mouth close and suspected she was frowning. He peeked through is left eye and confirmed his suspicions. He couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny, Nick?" she asked, sounding genuinely annoyed that he had called her choice of food.

"Nothing, nothing," he said, waving his paw at her. "You're just predictable is all."

She gasped, "Excuse me? I am _not_ predictable! I just know what I like, that's all," she said defensively. He laughed a little, and turned to look at her. Her scowl deepened and her ears fell down behind her head.

He nudged her shoulder and said, "I don't mind pizza. I haven't had a good Veggielanche in a while." She perked her ears back up and smiled.

"Good," she said as she pulled into her apartment's parking area.

Six months prior, she had finally realized the full potential of her police salary and moved from her old studio into a nicer, one bedroom apartment a bit further from the city center. It had an assigned parking spot and the rent was not much higher than her old place. She had found a used pick-up online and decided that it would do her well to have a car in the city. It hadn't hurt that shortly after Nick joined the force, she had gotten a nice raise and bonus from the new mayor to allow her to feel the financial security to move. The place wasn't luxurious by any standards, but it had its own bathroom and kitchenette and made her feel at home in the city.

As they walked in and Judy flicked on the entry light, Judy tossed her keys in a little bowl by the door. Nick had brought his uniform up with him, and he set it down on the kitchen counter in a neatly folded pile.

"Wanna get the movie ready? I'm gonna go change real fast," Judy said, motioning towards her room. Nick nodded and she turned to go.

Nick flopped down on the couch and spread himself out comfortably, taking up his usual spot and posture. He grabbed the remote to the TV and turned it on, and then flicked through Judy's GoFer channels until he got to Dodo Plus. Since the movie was a new addition, it was right on the front page, demanding to be watched.

A moment later, he could hear Judy's steps behind him and turned as he watched her sit down next to him on the other end of the couch. She was in a loose fitting t-shirt, and some pajama pants with what he could only describe as dumb little carrots smiling on them. He smirked as he looked at it, but she didn't notice.

"Let me call in our pizza order first," she said, reaching for her phone. She ordered one extra large Veggielanch pizza from Pizza Hutch, and after hanging up, looked at Nick and nodded that she was ready.

He started the movie, but hardly paid attention to it. He hadn't fully believed her when she said she'd seen it, and he spent about half the movie watching her reactions out of the corner of his eyes to make sure she reacted properly. Given the way she reacted, he concluded that she had in fact seen the movie before.

Their pizza arrived about half an hour in, forcing them to pause.

"I'll pay this time," she said, getting up and grabbing her wallet off of the table next to the couch. She hopped over to the door, opened it and grabbed the pizza that was almost as big as her. She set it on the floor and paid the driver, a bit more than he thought she should have. After closing the door, she picked up the pizza and brought it over to the couch, setting it between them.

Nick reached down and grabbed a slice, pleased with how warm it felt on his paws. He took a hearty bite and closed his eyes, humming in satisfaction.

Judy chuckled, saying, "You know, when I was a kid, I'm talking like, three or four, I really believed that most predators still ate meat regularly." Nick turned to look at her, his mouth stuffed full of pizza. She laughed again. She couldn't help but think that he looked so goofy with his cheeks puffed out and a string of hot cheese hanging from his lips as he looked at her in surprise. "You should swallow," she added.

He complied, and then spoke, "When did you realize that we didn't eat things we could have conversations with?" His tone was a little harsh, but he just wanted to see if he could make her squirm.

She grimaced a little, and said, "Long before I met my first fox." She smiled, and he rolled his eyes.

"Smooth," he said, looking back at the TV where their movie was still paused. He looked at his slice of pizza and took another bite.

Judy smirked mischievously and asked, her tone too sincere, "Have you ever eaten meat before?"

Nick choked on his food a bit and then swallowed, coughing a moment, before he looked at her with wide eyes. "What?! No! That's disgusting!"

She couldn't help but laugh, and when he realized she'd only asked it to get a reaction from him, he scowled at her, his ears pinning back against his head.

"Not funny…." he grumbled.

She shook her head, wiping her eyes with the back of her paw, "No you're right I'm sorry, it's not." She took a slice of pizza finally and took as big a bite as she could.

"At least, not since the first time I tried rabbit stew."

Now it was Judy's turn to choke on her food, and when she looked at Nick, he had a very serious expression on his face. For a second, a split second, she wondered if he had spoken the truth. He noticed and gasped.

"Carrots! I am shocked! You actually believe I would have ever _eaten_ another _mammal_ intentionally?" He then aggressively jammed another, larger bite of pizza into his mouth as he maintained eye contact with her. He started laughing in the middle of it and covered his mouth. She started laughing too.

"Dumb fox," she said, trying to force herself to stop laughing so she could eat.

They finished the pizza in silence, and after Nick got back from throwing the box in the trash, he sat down a little closer to her than before, but still apart, and picked up the remote. "Ready to resume?" He asked, looking at her. She nodded as she settled back into the couch and looked forward. He lingered looking at her a moment before he pressed play and looked forward.

As the movie progressed, a thought kept tugging at him. He ignored it, though, not worried that it would be too late to tell her another time.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The sun was at its zenith and burned hotly today. Downtown was radiating more than usual, despite the typically controlled climates of Zootopia. Summer was in full force and demanded that all notice as if it were a petulant child. The park in front of the ZPD was full of playing children, but many of their parents were huddled together under various offerings of shade. Nick looked down on them from the roof of the ZPD and sighed.

He paid no attention to the sound of the door to the roof opening, nor did he turn when he heard light steps coming his way. He simply continued to look forward and down at the scenes beneath him, and when he saw her sit down next to him out of the corner of his eye, he let out another, smaller sigh.

His stomach started turning in knots under her gaze, anxiously waiting for her to say something. He had no desire to speak at all, and so continued to stare straight ahead. He did not expect her to reach a hand out and place it on his forearm.

She squeezed gently, and then spoke, "Tough day, huh?"

Despite himself, he let out a snort of derision, not looking at her. She squeezed him again, but didn't let go. He was grateful.

"Nick," she started again, her tone soft yet firm, "do you want to talk about it?"

He finally turned to look at her, unwilling or unable to hide the sadness in his eyes. She didn't react as she looked at him, almost as though she were looking through him, deeper into his mind to see what he wasn't saying.

He opened his mouth to speak for a second, but closed it and let out another sigh. Judy gave him an encouraging smirk, but he couldn't find the words. He looked away again, back down at the children. He noticed so many different species, predator and prey, playing down there. They all screamed in delight as they kicked their ball or threw their frisbee or knocked each other over playing tag. Not one parent so much as flinched when a small young lion had tripped and landed on top of a gazelle slightly smaller than he was. The two giggled loudly on the ground and then rolled around to get off of each other before getting back up without so much as brushing off any of the dirt and grass. Nick's insides twisted at the sight of it.

Judy had decided to look at what he was looking at, and with a knowing sigh of her own, she turned back to face him. She scooted closer to him on the edge of the building until she was next to him, and she put her arm around his waist and pulled him closer to her. Against his will, he leaned his head down awkwardly to place it on top of hers. Their height difference made this uncomfortable for him, but he couldn't pull himself up.

She heard his voice vibrate her head as he spoke finally, "What did I do wrong?" His tone was pleading, weak, and so not Nick. She couldn't help herself and she squeezed him tighter as he finished speaking.

After a moment's consideration, she replied, "Nothing, Nick. You did nothing wrong."

"Then why do I always feel like the bad guy?" His voice cracked a little, and she turned her head. He lifted his off of hers and looked away to his left, not looking at her or the park anymore. She kept her arm around him and stroked his side a little.

She had no answer for him. Nothing she could say could change the way he felt right now.

Earlier in the day, they had been on a pretty standard patrol, no major incidents, the usual banter between them, and had come across a desert hare and a weasel arguing at a bus stop when they came to a red light. Nick was in the passenger seat, the window was down, and they could hear every word.

"Listen, you thumping moron, I don't care what you think you saw, I didn't touch your kits!" exclaimed the weasel.

At that point, Nick had turned his head and noticed two small hares with the adult, and then noticed how they were cowering behind their parent.

"Then why are they saying you tried to take their pocket money and that you bared your claws at them?" replied the man.

Nick had heard enough and flicked the siren for a second to alert the group to his and Judy's presence, saying, "Can we help you two gentlemammals?" in his most authoritative voice.

"Yes, officer, this weasel here was hara-" the hare begun, but stopped upon seeing Nick.

" _Oh,_ " he said. He glared at Nick. Nick's ears had pinned back against his head and his eyes narrowed. Leaving the lights on, Judy hopped out of the driver's side and walked around, making her presence known. The look of surprise on the hare's face was almost as insulting as his own interruption.

"Judy Hopps? Thank god someone sensible is around, listen, this weasel here was harassing my children and threatened them with his predatory features. I would like him detained while I move on my way," said the hare. Judy stared at him impassively, nodding a little as he spoke, not betraying any acquiescence or disagreement. When he had finished speaking, she turned to Nick.

"What do you think, partner?" she said, acting as though the hare's disapproval of Nick's status as an officer had never happened. However, the hare interrupted her.

"I don't want him taking sides, he's no better than this snake of a mammal here-"

"Sir, I was not speaking to you." Judy's voice was more stern than Nick could remember ever having heard it be. It caught his attention and he finally looked at her, surprised and unable to hide his own turmoil, at least from her.

"I think it would be, uh, it would be best if you and your family moved along. We'll stay here with this gentlemammal until you're gone," Judy said after a moment, realizing that Nick was not going to say anything. The weasel scoffed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. The hare "harumphed" smugly, turned to the weasel and glared before grabbing his children's hands.

"Come along kids, we don't need to take this from their kind," he spat, looking at the weasel and then back at Nick. Finally, Nick snapped.

"Excuse me, sir, but I am actually here to _help you-"_ he started, but he was cut off in a flash.

" _Help?_ " the hare laughed as he said it. "You think you're here to help _me_ right now? You're all the same, you sneaky smaller predators, you trick mammals and manipulate them and you think the rest of us won't notice. What did you do to get into that squad car, huh? Did one of your rich convict uncles pay for a ride along and a fake uniform?"

Judy stood there aghast. Nick's eyes narrowed and he glared down at the hare.

"Move along, sir," he grunted, and put on his sunglasses and looked straight ahead in the car.

"What's your name?" the hare asked, distrust and hatred dripping from his every word.

"I'm Officer Judy Hopps and this is Officer Nick Wilde, ZPD. You need anything else, hare, before you get moving?" Judy's tone took the hare by surprise. He looked at her, a look of betrayal in his eyes.

"No. I think I've seen enough." He yanked his kits and started walking away. When he was down a few blocks, Judy turned toward the weasel and spoke again.

"Sorry, sir. Are you alright?" she asked. The weasel just rolled his eyes again before walking away the opposite direction. Judy sighed, and got back into the car and turned off the lights. She started driving again.

When they got back to the precinct, they were quickly called into Bogo's office.

"What happened earlier? I've been on the phone with some wild desert hare for over half an hour about how you two witnessed a weasel try to rob him and then harassed him? Granted," he said, putting a hoof up as Judy opened her mouth to rebut, "I do not take him seriously, but still. What happened?"

Judy recounted the whole story as Nick sat there stone faced, staring down at the chair he sat in and saying nothing. Bogo looked at him a couple of times during the conversation, mostly when Judy had been recounting what was said towards him and about him. Concern never registered on the chief's face.

"Alright, thank you officers. That's all I needed to hear. Consider the matter closed," he said after Judy had finished. Neither moved and so he added, "Dismissed."

They both got out of their chairs, and walked out of the office. Judy looked up at Nick, who's expression was unreadable at the moment.

"You ok Nick?" she asked as casually as she could.

He simply looked at her, then walked away towards their desks. She knew he wasn't ok, and she had only asked to allow him to open up. She didn't think he would.

They sat at their desks for about fifteen minutes before she got up to use the restroom. When she had returned, he was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, she figured he must be hiding, and remembered it was a beautiful day outside and she went to the roof.

"Nick," she began when she heard him sniffle, "you will never have everyone's trust."

He turned to look at her, and she was pained but not shocked to see he had tears in his eyes, pain and sadness written in every crease of his face and muzzle. He had not expected her to say that.

"I remember a friend of mine once saying, 'you will never be anything more than just a stupid, carrot farming dumb bunny' on a day very much like this one," she said, and Nick's mouth opened a little as he suppressed a sob. "I sometimes feel like there are a lot of people in this city who probably feel something like that when they hear about me or see me on the news," she said, turning to look back at the park herself. "I know that, out there, in this city I risk my life to protect every day, there are those who will believe I don't deserve my job and that anything I achieve is a fluke or off the back of someone else bigger and stronger." She sighed again.

"Do you think I achieved anything off the back of someone else?" She asked, finally turning back to him. He looked at her for a moment, a deep breath shaking his body as he shook his head gently, 'No' and more tears fell from his eyes.

She smiled at him, saying "Then why do you care when some jackass hare says you're a sneak and a cheat? You know that's not true, Chief Bogo knows that's not true, all of our friends even. He's going to go back to his home and be as miserable about something else as he was about your kindness."

Nick's voice cracked as he spoke, just above a whisper, "I see that look of distrust written on so many faces, Judy." He finally let out a small sob as he squeezed his eyes shut, tears falling as he did so. Judy reached up and wiped one side away. His eyes shot open at her touch, and he instinctively reached his paw up to touch hers and pressed it to his face. He closed his eyes again as he rubbed into it a bit. She smirked, and pulled her hand down to his neck and stood up to pull him into a hug. Finally, he let his tears fall in earnest.

They sat there for several minutes, with Judy holding his head under her chin, resting it between his ears as he cried quietly onto her shoulder. She couldn't help but smile, knowing that this moment had been coming for some time. She was happy that he could let his walls down and let her in on such a beautiful day.

She stroked his head, and finally he spoke again, "His dumb rabbit face reminded me that sometimes I think I see it on your face, too."

Judy's smile flipped, and she pulled back and took him by the shoulders. She looked him in the eyes and spoke softly. "Nick Wilde, whatever you think you see on my face that looks like distrust, I swear to you on every carrot I've ever farmed," he chuckled and sniffed, "that you are mistaken. I let you pretend to bite my neck for crying out loud!" She smirked and shook his shoulders a little. He laughed again, and started wiping his face.

"Thanks, Carrots," he said softly, continuing to sniffle and wipe his eyes. She sat back down and they both turned to look at the park again. She put her arm back around his waist but this time, she leaned on him.

"He was wrong, by the way," she said suddenly. Nick turned and looked down at her, and she looked up at him after a moment. He tilted his head slightly in confusion, looking for her to elaborate.

"About you, and about himself. He's the one his children should look at with disdain. One day, with any luck, they will," she said, smiling before turning to look forward again. Nick, however, continued to stare down at her.

It had been an cascade of emotions since she got up there with him. Sadness, anxiety, fear, grief, anger, and finally and overwhelmingly, gratitude. He turned a bit and grabbed her in a two arm hug and just held it for a moment before letting go suddenly. He stood up and brushed off his butt and the base of his tail, and looked down at her.

"We should get back inside and finish up for the day," he said, his voice still soft and shaky. She grunted in agreement and stood up, brushing herself off as well. They turned, and walked toward the door and headed back downstairs.

Back at their desks, they worked in silence, finishing their reports. The Chief didn't come by their desk today to ask if there was anything of note in their reports before he got them, and they were grateful. They gave their reports to Clawhauser at the same time, and left silently after punching out.

"Hey, Carrots?" Nick asked, his voice still quiet, as they got into her truck.

She turned to look at him, her eyes wide and her ears up. Her nose was twitching a little as she regarded him for a moment.

"Would you mind coming over to my place for a little while? Maybe catch the latest episode of some awful reality show?" he said, nervously fidgeting with the base of his tie as he talked. She smiled, and looked forward.

"Would I mind that? No, no I would not."

He smiled.

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 **A/N: Getting back into the swing of writing has been fun! Hopefully later chapters will be a bit longer, but my goal is to keep all of them between 2.5k and 5k words long. I know I always hate seeing an update and it's over in 5 minutes! Happy Sunday everyone! Be sure to let me know what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Parties were not Judy's favorite thing.

No, not because she was a party pooper, far from it; she knew how to get rowdy. No, they were never her favorite because she found them to be completely and utterly exhausting. They were one of the few things that could really put her out on her ass after a long night of over the top laughing, drinking, dancing, and general amusement.

It was late summer and Clawhauser had been planning his (apparently) annual summer party for months. It was all he could talk about for the week leading up to it. All talk with the dispatcher had a cyclical quality: greetings, party, how are yous, party, gotta go Bens, party! Everyone at the station was invited, although unfortunately there were always those few every year who had to sit out and continue working. It was always assigned, but every year, enough officers would "volunteer" to "take one for the team" and "sit this one out, guys."

Clawhauser usually forgave them after a few days.

The event was held in a huge villa in one of the more upscale hotels in the downtown area. At first, Judy had been confused as to how on earth Clawhauser could afford to throw such an event, but then with ample digging (asking Clawhauser) she found out that the owner of the hotel was actually one of Clawhauser's relatives. The villa was offered to him free of charge, as long as he paid for any cleaning or repair expenses.

Judy had arrived early, as she usually did for anything, and had made herself useful helping Clawhauser get set up. They had chatted idly for most of the time, discussing gossip over this or that. Apparently, Gazelle had been rumored to be with one of her tiger dancers, and Clawhauser was simply over the moon about it.

"His name is Jake Khan and he is obviously the most _talented_ of her dancers, he's in nearly every show of hers unlike the rest of them, and oh my goodness the way he moves! How could anyone resist?" gushed Clawhauser as the were walking backwards away from each other to set up some streamers.

"Why do people think they're together, though?" Judy asked, her curiosity overwhelming her. She had been in the city long enough to know that interspecies relationships were a thing, but she had never really discussed the topic with any city natives.

"Oh, well that's easy, they've been spotted going into various night clubs in Sahara Square together, and there's just that _look_ between them on stage that anyone with eyes can see," he said matter-of-factly, pinning up the streamer. Judy looked up helplessly; she couldn't reach where it needed to go.

She turned to look at him, grinning meekly. He didn't notice at first, but when they made eye contact a moment later, he scrambled to go help her.

"Sorry, Judy! I forgot," he said sheepishly, as if worried that acknowledging her height would offend her.

"Don't sweat it, Ben. Just glad I could help at all!" she replied back, as chipper as possible. Clawhauser noticeably relaxed.

She hesitated before she asked him, "What do you think about them being together?"

He didn't look up from a box of assorted party decorations and said, "Oh it'd be fantastic! They'd be so _cute_ together and obviously who could blame them?"

Judy let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in, and relaxed. Before she could wonder why the conversation had made her so tense, Clawhauser handed her a banner to hang up.

About an hour later, and guests began arriving in droves. Judy became anxious as she searched the area for any signs of her partner.

 _Hey, where are you?_ she wrote out a text message, and hesitated before hitting the send button, her finger hovering just above it. Was she being overbearing?

Before she had time to consider it any longer, though, she got a message from him.

 _Are you already on your way? I think I'm here but I'm not sure._

She smiled in relief, erased her message, and wrote: _I'm here, we're up on the top floor, suite 3A. Once you're here you won't be able to miss it._

She sent it and went back to observing the mass of officers, all so strange looking out of uniform, and suddenly felt very excited. She had never done anything like this while in Zootopia yet, as last year she and Nick had been assigned duty the night of the party and not enough volunteers had spared them. She hadn't really wanted to go, and so it had passed and she'd forgotten all about it.

She made her way through the throng of mammals over to the kitchen area where she had helped Clawhauser set up all the alcohol earlier. They had a large selection of beers, a few wine choices, and then the coup de grâce: a mixture Clawhauser had proudly dubbed "Jungle Juice" (a dubious term, as far as Judy was concerned) that was a vat of various actual juices and about five different types of liquor.

Judy walked over to the counter and grabbed a plastic cup, and began to fill it with the mixture.

"Wow, Hopps is a drinker. Who'da thought?" piped up Wolford, who was standing nearby with Fangmire and Delgado.

"Ha, you city boys don't know much about the country if you think I've never had my share of carrot moonshine," she shot back as her cup was nearly filled and she closed the spigot. One of them whistled, she assumed Delgado, and he and Fangmire chuckled as she turned to see Fangmire smack his paw backhanded into Wolford's chest.

"Sounds like a challenge, huh?" he said, staring at an awe-struck Wolford. The wolf laughed, looked around the party for a moment, and then looked back at Judy.

"Just be careful with that, Clawhauser is notorious for trying to make it deceptively strong," he said, chuckling.

"Who do you think helped him make it?" she asked, her eyes twinkling mischievously as she smirked and took a big sip. She hid her surprise at its strength as she pulled it away from her mouth and made a dramatic "Aaah" sound. The four of them erupted into laughter.

Not a second later, another voice joined them.

"Easy there, Carrots, can't let the rest of them know you're any fun."

Judy turned quickly in the direction of the voice, and couldn't stop herself from smiling broadly, practically jumping over to Nick. She set her cup down and gave him a big hug. Nick looked surprised for a moment by the suddenness of her movements, but quickly relaxed and gave her a one-armed pat. Wolford just stared at them, while Fangmire and Delgado had already started talking about something else.

"Want something to drink?" she asked, pulling away from him and picking up her cup again. "Try this, it's pretty good," she said, thrusting it at him. He took it after a second, and after a small sip, pulled it away from his mouth.

"Oh my- what's _in_ this?" he asked, staring at it incredulously and then at Judy's excited face.

"Well first there's-"

"Ah, ah!" interrupted Clawhauser, who had somehow managed to sneak up on them. "That's a secret of the house, and you shan't reveal it, Officer Hopps!" Judy giggled, and looked back at Nick.

"Well, do you want some?" she asked expectantly. Nick looked between the two of them for a few seconds, before realization dawned on him.

"Oh my god, you've been here for hours already, haven't you?" he said, looking at Judy. She giggled again, taking another big sip from her cup.

She finished swallowing and started talking almost at the same time, "A-yup, so you're officially behind on the fun, Officer Wilde, so let's get moving!" She ran behind him and gently pushed him towards the drink counter. Reluctantly, he sighed and picked up a cup of his own and poured a drink.

Judy managed to finish her first one in the next ten minutes. Her second one was gone about twenty minutes after that. Halfway through her third one, she was really feeling the buzz.

"And by 'buzz' I assume you mean 'thrashes of drunken stupor'?" Nick asked, nursing his second one. He smirked through sips, looking down at the uneven bunny in front of him.

"Nick, c'mon, it's no'that _bad_ for me to like, loosen up, you know?" she slurred, pointing her free hand at him, her dull claw coming closer to his nose than she'd intended. Nick chuckled, and leaned against the wall they were near.

He swirled his drink around for a moment, looking into it as though he might divine something from it, before he looked at her and spoke. "You having fun, though?"

She had been in the middle of another sip when he had started speaking, and she quickly pulled her cup away to exclaim, "Oh yeah, this'zis great!" She flashed him a huge, toothy grin, the kind that scrunched her face up and made her eyes close with how high her cheeks went. It gave Nick a moment to smile without worrying about her commenting on him looking cute or something awful like that. He took a finishing swig of his drink to help cover it up. By the time she opened her eyes again, he had managed to replace his smile with what he hoped was a judgmentally downcast expression.

Suddenly, there was a lull in the music, and then "Try Everything" by Gazelle came on. Judy's ears perked straight up and she thumped her foot against the ground a few times in excitement.

"Nick Nick Nick let's dance!" she said, now hopping, and she tossed back the rest of her drink, stacked her cup on his, gave an annoyingly smug, "dunked" and then dragged him forcibly into the main open area of the villa. Most of the officers had been milling about the walls and avoided dancing, but Clawhauser and a few others had been dancing for a little while. Once Judy and Nick had joined them, more began to follow in their footsteps.

The song was over in a flash, but the dancing didn't stop. Nick had to admit, it was more fun than he had anticipated. He had eyes only for Judy, but she seemed to be doing whatever she could to entertain everyone who would watch. Certainly she had captivated him.

The dancing went on for what felt like only a few more minutes, but really had lasted several songs. After what must have been an hour, Judy finally seemed to have lost the wind in her sails for the moment, and she slugged her way off the dance floor and headed for the kitchen area.

Her first instinct was to grab more alcohol, but Nick deftly guided her to the ice chest and grabbed two water bottles. The cold of the plastic, already wet from being in the chest, was refreshing on his paws.

The two of them walked outside to the large balcony of the villa, dimly lit, and currently unoccupied. They both cracked open their waters and took big gulps, and then looked down at the lights below them.

"It really is beautiful looking up here," Judy said quietly. Nick looked down at her, and then back through the bars of the balcony railing, the top of it too high for either of them to lean on. She was looking straight ahead of them, observing the city lights below them. He could see the lights reflected in her eyes, and for a moment couldn't see anything else. Suddenly, she turned to look at him, and his heart fluttered for some reason he couldn't understand. He cleared his throat and looked back at the city.

"Yeah, nothing like this back in Bunnyburrow I bet," he said, trying to keep the mood light.

She chuckled, looking down again, "No, nothing like this. Well, except the stars."

His head cocked a little to the side and he looked at her again, but this time she took notice and her eyes met his. She smiled faintly, and looked down at his feet.

"Without all the city lights, you can see every star imaginable up there," she said softly, continuing to look down. "In all honesty, the lights down there kind of remind me of it."

Nick looked up at the sky; it was clear but only a few little faint dots of light were visible other than the moon. He realized it was about as much as he'd ever seen in the sky here.

"I've never really seen the stars," he said quietly, still looking up. Judy looked up at him, noticing that his ears were pinned back, but didn't say anything. "I've never really thought about it before," he said, looking down at the city again, adding after a moment, "I guess it's gotta really be something, huh?"

Her eyes got a bit wider and her ears perked up, and she said, "I'd say that 'something' is the understatement of the century. Nothing compares," she said, looking at the city again, her ears still standing up. "Sometimes, when I was younger, I'd go outside at night and find constellations that nobody else knew about. A carrot here, a plow there, a police badge that only came out in winter…" her voice trailed off, and her ears fell again.

Her failing voice took Nick by surprise, and he turned to look at her, his ears perking up at the sight of her looking lost in a distant memory.

He hadn't expected the sniffle that followed.

"I miss it sometimes," she said, her voice not betraying any of the emotion she was obviously experiencing. "I haven't been back in so long."

"Why don't you take a vacation soon?" he asked gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. She reached up her left paw and placed it on top of his, holding it there.

She sighed. "I should, huh?" she asked, not looking away from the city. Suddenly, an idea hit her, and her ears shot straight up and she turned to look at him excitedly. "You should, too!"

"What?" he asked in surprise, his eyes widening a little.

"You should come visit home with me in a few months! The stars will be so beautiful and I can show you the police badge in the sky and you can even meet my family!"

It was strange, the way she added "even meet my family" at the end, like it was simply going to be a sideshow to the main event: a visit into her past, one that had previously had only one visitor named Judy Hopps. Nick's paw squeezed involuntarily on her shoulder at the thought, and she smiled as her eyes softened a little, the initial excitement fading. She dropped her hand, and he let go.

She turned to face the city again. For a few minutes, they stood there in silence, not really saying or doing much. Judy's heart had been racing since she had asked him if he wanted to visit her home; unbeknownst to her, so had his.

At some point in their conversation, Judy's buzz had started to fade. The water had helped, and so had the dancing most likely. She suddenly realized how very badly she had to use the bathroom.

"I'll be back in a second," she said, putting down her water bottle and she turned around to find the toilet, leaving Nick by himself on the balcony. He watched as she disappeared into the crowd, and smiled softly. He jumped, and very nearly yipped, however, when he heard a voice speak.

"You two are something else," Wolford said, amusement painted on his face and dripping from his voice. Nick hadn't noticed him sitting on the far side of the balcony, and obviously neither had Judy.

"W-what d'you mean?" he said, trying to regain his composure. Had Wolford heard everything? Had he seen the way Nick looked at her? What did he know? What-

Wolford interrupted Nick's racing thoughts with a soft chuckle and a shake of his head.

"Don't worry, Wilde. Your secret's safe with me," he said, standing up. He patted Nick on the shoulder, and then walked inside. Nick opened his mouth to protest, ask "what secret?" and pretend nothing had happened, but Wolford was gone before anything could coalesce into a coherent though.

A moment later, Judy reappeared in the crowd and came bounding back over to Nick.

"Wow, I really needed that," she said, retaking her place next to him. Silence came over them again, both looking down at the city, watching cars move along the busy streets, hearing horns honk every so often. It was so strange, to be so high above it all, to see the city but not feel like a part of it for just a moment, to just feel like only you and the one next to you existed.

Finally, he spoke up. "That sounds like it would be fun. Visiting your home," he said, and he heard Judy turn to look at him. "You sure your family won't run and hide at first sight of me?" he added jokingly.

She frowned and gently punched his arm. "No, dumb fox. You're not that scary, anyway."

He smirked, and put his arm around her far shoulder and pulled her in close.

Maybe parties aren't so bad after all, she thought.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm getting better at this! I think! Let me know what you all think. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Greg Buckley had never run so hard and so fast in his entire life. The antelope was slamming his hoofs into the ground as he ran with all his might, never daring to look behind him. He could hear the soft patter of paws in pursuit, oftentimes catching up to him until he'd take a sneaky turn and they'd fade for a moment, only to slowly come back into range and barrel down upon him again.

"Damn that…." he cursed under his breath as he stopped for a brief moment to choose another direction in the alleyways he found himself being chased through. His momentary indecision was all she needed.

"Hey! Stop!"

He turned and looked for just a moment at his stalker, before he quickly started running forward again. Since when were her kind so god damn scary?

Greg was starting to run out of energy, and dared a look behind him to see where she had gone, noticing already that her pawsteps had faded almost completely.

Suddenly he was on his back.

He felt a body standing on top of him, far too heavy to be who he thought it would be, but in a moment he saw a flash of red and heard a male's voice.

"I'm not _horning in_ , am I?" the fox on top him said, grinning wickedly. Greg growled a little, and with all of his strength, swiped his arm at the fox, taking it by surprise. With a swift motion, he threw the fox against a nearby wall, heard it yip in pain, stood up, and ran off again. He never had a chance to realize his mistake in hurling the fox like that.

Without any warning, he was falling face down onto the concrete, and barely had enough time to put his arms out to try and break his fall. He hit the ground with a thud and an "ooph!" and then felt an incredibly strong pair of legs slam his head into the ground, and his world started spinning.

"You are under arrest for aggravated assault and battery of an officer," a female voice said as he felt cuffs go around his wrists.

What a stroke of shit.

 _It was just past noon, and Nick and Judy were leaving their favorite little cafe in Savannah Central at the end of their lunch break. The two of them came here at least three times a week, and were well recognized regulars by this point._

 _"Hey Carrots, what d'ya say we finish our patrol here and then head back to the station and see if there's anything worthy of our attention?" Nick asked as they hopped into their cruiser, holding his take out coffee in his right paw._

 _Judy considered it for a moment as she backed the car out of their spot, and said while looking over her shoulder, "Sure, I'm kind of bored out here anyway, nothing really going on." She turned to look forward and drove out onto the boulevard._

 _The day was a cooler one, as summer was just beginning to wind down. Leaves hadn't quite started browning, but it was impossible to ignore the signs of autumn coming on. The days were getting shorter, the heat less intense, and the night chilled sooner and longer. For its part, the day was as beautiful as it could be, few clouds in the sky, with the ones that were moving along quickly. Nick looked out the window through his sunglasses and just took it in for a moment. He rolled down his window, and took in a deep breath, his nose quivering at the scents he detected. He smelled foods, he smelled the urban air, he heard anger-_

 _"Judy, do you hear that?" he asked, turning his ear towards the sound. He could hear distant, violent shouting._

 _Her ear instantly perked up and pointed toward his window, her eyes growing wide and her nose also quivering. Quickly, she hooked right and went down the street towards the sound, and quickly came upon an antelope and a lynx, and it was probably the darndest thing they'd seen in a while._

 _A large, burly antelope with tattoos and a couple of ear piercings was towering over a small lynx, screaming and shouting._

 _"I want my fuckin' money, pal! You've come to me twice already and you've come up more than just a little short. I've had the last of it, so pay up or you're gonna get the horns!"_

 _The antelope must have thought, despite his intense volume, that he and his companion were somewhat concealed by the fifteen feet between them and the sidewalk. Without hesitating, Judy pulled up onto the driveway and blocked the sidewalk and any easy exits with the car. She put on the lights but kept the siren down._

 _She and Nick hopped out of the car, and started sauntering in the direction of the antelope and the lynx._

 _"L-listen Greg, I told you all I gots right now is this hundred and I can give you the other three next week, I ju-" The lynx was cut off as the antelope swiped one of his antlers down at the lynx's face, missing but only just barely; it had been intentional._

 _Judy looked at the antlers for a moment, noticing that they were tipped with a metal covering. Definitely illegal._

 _"Hello, excuse me!" Judy called out sweetly, drawing both of their looks immediately: the antelope angry, the lynx horrified. "Officer Judy Hopps, ZPD," she said, maintaining her tone and demeanor but tapping her badge a few times. Nick had taken off his glasses and left his coffee in the car, and had his hands folded behind his back. He looked at them with his eyes half-lidded and his signature smirk on his face, albeit a little bit lazier than usual._

 _"This doesn't concern you, rat and dog, so get the hell away from us!" the antelope spat, glaring at the two officers. "This is a private business interaction between two partners!"_

 _Nick chuckled, raised a paw to demand silence, and closed his eyes a moment before saying, "Excuse me, Greg was it?" The antelope looked slightly taken aback. "Ah, good, yes, well Greg, if you recall, you said something along the lines of "giving the horns" to this lynx here, and as the sun is out I can see the faint glint of titanium tips on your antlers, so unfortunately, I believe that this 'private business interaction' has definitely gained two new negotiators."_

 _The lynx looked like he might literally die right there and save the antelope the trouble of doing it himself._

 _For his part, the antelope finally started to look a little nervous. He stood up straight, no longer leering over the lynx, and stared at the two officers._

 _"You got nothin' on me, coppers, so move along. You can't arrest me!"_

 _Judy spoke up quickly, raising her hand as she started, "Hello, remember the part about your antlers? That's a first class misdemeanor under city ordinance and so unfortunately, yes, you are most definitely under arrest. Please put your hands behind your back and stand with you-"_

 _The antelope shoved the lynx to the ground and stomped on his shin, eliciting a shriek from the feline, before he turned and bolted down the nearest alleyway._

 _The two officers turned to each other, sighed, and quickly broke off in pursuit._

Greg's head was spinning still, but much less so, as he saw the flashing lights of the police cruiser not three hundred feet ahead of them. When he got his hands on Clyde for getting him into this mess, his antlers were going to be the least of that lynx's concerns.

Judy Hopps, famed bunny cop, and her slightly less famous partner, Nick Wilde, walked beside him on either side. Greg was not going to go easily, but he didn't want to do anything too stupid if he wasn't going to get away. His mind started racing. What could he do that would incapacitate both of them? From what he'd seen in the news and heard on the streets, these two acted in total unison, completely inseparable, totally unwilling to-

The idea struck him, and he acted swiftly.

With one dangerous sweep of his whole body, he swung his antlers just above Judy's ears, which ducked down in time, but her reaction had momentarily distracted Nick, and the tip of his right antler pierced the fox's front. The look on his face was of shock and disbelief as he looked down, his paws hovering just around where the antler was sticking out, his tail jerking haphazardly behind him. His ears were as flat as they could be, and his breathing became haggard. With an equally brutal motion, Greg shoved hard and threw the fox a good few feet, where he landed on his back and let out a soft "ooph" as he hit the ground. Greg turned to start running, assuming that Hopps was going to start losing her shit and pay him no attention. Instead, he started convulsing as electricity rippled through his body.

Hopps was tasing the ever loving crap out of him. How had he not seen that coming?

After what felt like an eternity, the shocking stopped, and he lay on the ground, twitching randomly. He could feel the tips of his antlers were hot, and it was nearly unbearable. He could barely hear over the ringing in his ears, but he could catch a glimpse now of Hopps over by Wilde's side, putting one paw down on his wound, a radio in the other. He knew she was calling for back up. What really sealed the deal on how little he'd achieved with his stunt was that Wilde had his paws over both of hers, clinging hard but clearly with vigor.

 _I didn't even knock him out,_ he thought.

Within minutes, backup officers and an ambulance had arrived. Greg was picked up by a rhino and an elephant, the meanest looking he'd ever seen, and they threw him into the back of their much larger squad car.

Also on the scene, Chief Bogo walked up to Judy, who was still talking to Nick as he was being wheeled into the ambulance. He caught her mid sentence.

"-ospital later, ok? I'll sort this out and I'll be there within an hour," she was saying, her voice calm and even, stroking his left paw gently. Nick smirked, his eyes closed.

"You'd better," he rasped, and he sucked in a harsh breath. She let go and the EMTs pulled him in, closed the doors, and were off.

After they'd gone a few hundred feet, Judy's ears fell and she looked down. She hadn't yet noticed the chief behind her, and when she turned around she jumped back, startled.

"Chief! I hadn't heard you walk up, I'm sorry I would have said somethi-" she began, but he cut her off, holding up his right hoof. To her surprise, he didn't look angry or scowl, or much less even look irritated. Was that...worry?

"Hopps, what happened? All I got out of Clawhauser before I left was something about Wilde getting stabbed?" he asked, looking down at Judy.

Quickly, she recounted the story and mentioned how the antelope had titanium tips on his antlers. Bogo's eyes widened a little when she mentioned it.

"Sounds like Wilde got lucky," Bogo said. He then looked at the ground behind her and saw her taser still sitting there. He walked over, picked it up and inspected it briefly. He saw that she had discharged its entire power supply. He raised his eyebrows a little, and turned around.

He held up the taser, and said, "Would you be able to explain this?"

Judy looked at the ground again, more sheepish than before, less scared than guilty.

"I...I had to make sure that h-he didn't do anything else to Nick or to, to me and so I just held the button down until it...until it stopped," she said, her head going lower and lower as she finished. Bogo just looked at her, at a loss of what to say.

It was unusual for an officer to deplete the entire power supply of their taser on any animal smaller than a lion, and on one especially as wiry as the antelope he had seen, it was borderline dangerous. However, before he could begin to lecture her, his thoughts were interrupted by a small whimper. He then saw a single tear hit the ground. He betrayed no reaction, but in his mind, his anger abated a bit.

"Hopps," he said sternly. She looked up at him, tears silently streaking down her face. Were they out of guilt over what she'd done? Were they out of fear for Wilde's safety? He guessed a lot of both, thought he suspected mostly the latter.

"I underst-stand if you need to reprimand muh-me for my indiscretion to-today, sir," she choked out, her sobs becoming thick and wild. Bogo did not like this situation, and wanted it to end.

"Hopps," he began again, "As you are aware, these tasers are a standard issue, but they flash warnings on when to stop based on the feedback of energy from the target." She closed her eyes, pinching out more tears, but she worked to control her sniffling. "However," he said, and her eyes opened, perking up just the smallest amount, "they have been known to malfunction when there's interference. You said...titanium tips, right?" She nodded furiously. "Well, I imagine those messed with the internal mechanics of the device. The warnings didn't go off, did they?" he asked, his tone still grave. She paused, before she tentatively shook her head no. "I assumed as much," he said, maintaining his most stern look. "I'll have it inspected and you will be issued a new one." He did not smile at her, but he removed his scowl before continuing. "Go to Wilde. He's not as tough as you, and I'm sure he'll be frightened. I remember how scared I was the first time I got hurt like that in the line of duty." He gave her a curt nod, and turned to walk away.

Judy just stood there dumbfounded for a second, staring at the chief as he walked away. She stood motionless as he got into his car, accompanied by Wolford, with whom she made brief eye contact. Was that compassion in his eyes? They were gone before she could decide.

After they were out of sight, she returned to herself. She checked for her keys, pulled them out of her pocket, and sprinted to her squad car. She flicked on the sirens and lights, and sped out onto the street. She wasted no time in getting to Veldt General Hospital, the main hospital in Savannah Central. She parked in the main car circle, ignoring the valet attendant, and ran inside.

She flashed her badge to the ocelot at the reception desk, who pointed quickly to the emergency trauma unit to the left. Judy ran through the doors, her badge out, and was redirected twice more before she came upon a room with Delgado and Fangmire standing sentinel outside of it.

She stopped suddenly, several feet from them, and they both turned to their right and saw her. Delgado looked impassive, but Fangmire's expression was softer.

Judy hesitated a moment before she practically squeaked out, "Can I go in?" Both of the great cats nodded in unison, and she stepped towards them until she was just in front of the door. After another brief moment of trepidation, she reached up, pulled the door handle, and stepped inside.

To her relief, Nick was there, sitting up in a bed, hospital gowns on with only an IV drip connected. _No blood transfusion,_ she thought, relief flooding through her mind. The wound had seemed so severe, so brutal, and yet he hadn't bled enough to require a blood donation.

His ears perked towards the door at the sound of her opening it, but he didn't open his eyes. Was he asleep? She closed the door gently, and took soft steps towards him. She stopped next to the side of the bed, looking him over. He was breathing softly. The heart monitor indicated a steady heartbeat. His face looked peaceful.

She placed her paw on his, and pulled up a chair. She sat there and time started slipping past her. She lost track of how long it took before he finally stirred. She squeezed his paw to let him know she was there, and slowly he turned his head toward her, but his eyes remained closed.

"Heya, Carrots," he said softly, rubbing his head into the pillows. She let out a chuckle, but it was marred by a sob, one she hadn't realized had welled up the moment he began moving.

"Hey there, bushy tail," she said, equally soft, but she sniffled as she said it. "How ya feeling?"

He opened his eyes and looked at her. He frowned a little at her tears, but said as gently as he could, "I feel like I got stabbed with a metal antler," and smiled. She looked at him a moment before she started chuckling weakly to herself. He pretended to be offended. "Are my injuries funny to you, Officer Hopps?"

She wiped some of her tears away, still holding onto his paw, as she said, "Of course not, of course not, I'm sorry, Officer Wilde. I just…" she tried to think of a joke, but nothing came to her. After a moment, she let out a deep, shaky sigh and simply said, "I'm so glad you're ok, Nick." She looked him in the eyes, saying more to him with them than she knew, and didn't notice as her nose quivered a little.

"Yeah," he said, sounding distant. "I guess the tears really _tipped me off_." He couldn't resist, and he smiled that huge smile of his, that doofy grin that she loved to hate.

"You know, it's really your fault," she said, and he looked at her, confused. "If you hadn't _horned in_ on their business, we never woulda gotten ourselves into this mess." She bit her lip to hold back her smile. He leaned his head up a little, his mouth agape.

"Did you just, did you…" he began, but couldn't finish his sentence. Judy couldn't take it any longer, and she started laughing in earnest. Nick started to laugh, but quickly coughed, then immediately yipped and groaned, clutching his ribs.

Judy stood up in a flash, letting go of his paw as it yanked away involuntarily, and she put her paw on his shoulder instead, rubbing him gently.

"I guess no laughing today," he said weakly, small tears in his eyes from the coughing fit. She squeezed his shoulder, and a tiny smile formed on her muzzle.

"Seriously though Nick, I'm glad you're ok," she said quietly. He looked at her and smiled too. Suddenly, his smile grew bigger, and it made her feel uneasy.

"On the way over here, I heard one of the EMTs mention that the antelope looked pretty cooked up. What did you do to him, discharge your entire taser?" he asked, smirking as though it were ridiculous.

She chuckled nervously, scratching behind her ears. "Actually, I...did."

He looked at her in shock. "Wait, what? Really? You, Judy Hopps, used the _entire_ power supply on that antelope? You could have killed him?"

She smirked, "That thought crossed my mind before I had finally let it drain." Nick looked at her, still a bit shocked, but his shock was being replaced with something else. She couldn't tell what, but she had a feeling it was closer to pride.

"Thanks, Carrots," he said. "Thanks for risking your job for my sweet electrical revenge."

They both chuckled, and she sat back down. He laid his head back, and closed his eyes, and let out a deep sigh.

She leaned back, holding onto his paw, and closed her eyes as well. In moments she was sleeping, her head lolling awkwardly back. Nick opened his eyes lightly to look over at her, and with a small smile, closed his eyes, burning the image of her sitting there into his mind.

It was the last thing he remembered before going to sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: I tried to make this one a little longer, a little more action packed, as I am going to be going away for a couple of days and won't be able to really work on this until Friday. I'm having a lot of fun exploring these characters and their slowly morphing relationship. I hope that you all are enjoying watching their friendship slowly blossom into something more. I don't really want to hurt the characters too much, but I did also want to bring a little mortality to their relationship. I also am a firm believer that, despite his tougher exterior, Nick has always been the softer of the two. Have a great week, and thanks for all the support!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Nick was let out of the hospital the following afternoon. Judy had left at some point in the middle of the night, tired and not really wanting to go. It was around 11am when she came back with their cruiser to pick him up. He had been waiting outside for a couple of minutes when she came up to the curbside. He look at the car, smirked a little, and then gingerly stood up, favoring his left side. He was dressed in some hospital garb, holding his folded up uniform under his right arm. He walked slowly towards the car, and before he could make it, Judy had already hopped out and around to open the door.

"Sorry, I didn't think you'd be out here by now! I stopped by to get us some coffee," she said hurriedly, taking his uniform from him so he could use both paws. He chuckled at the mention of the coffee. He hadn't realized until now how tired he felt, and the exertion of getting into the car was really taking everything he had.

After he was situated in the seat, Judy closed the door and walked back around. He buckled in just as she was closing her door, and as she buckled her own belt, he let out a loud sigh, and closed his eyes.

It wasn't until that moment that he understood just how tense he had been since getting to the hospital. As they pulled away, he felt like he was leaving all of his stress, and more than that, his fear, behind him, leaving it at the hospital for someone else to worry about.

He turned to his left and saw the coffee she'd gotten for him, and he reached out and picked it up. He took a small sip, appreciating how hot it still was, and that it had just the right amount of creamer and sugar in it; just how he liked it.

"Aah, thanks Carrots," he said, his voice hoarse from his lack of fluids since being admitted the day before.

"Oh, I almost forgot, I brought you a cup of water, too. I figured you'd be pretty parched in general," she said, pointing to a third cup he hadn't noticed yet. A small feeling of appreciation bubbled up inside him as he picked it up, and swallowed it down with the water. He really was quite thirsty.

They rode together in silence for several minutes, with Nick alternating between drinking the coffee and the water. He finished the water first, satisfying his thirst and leaving the coffee to enjoy last.

After several more minutes passed, Nick realized that they were not heading for his place. He turned to look at her, then looked ahead, and then back to her. She smirked.

"I figured that until you're ready to go back to work, you might appreciate having someone around to help you," she said, still smiling.

"Carrots, you don't have to," he said, doing his best to hide any traces of the excitement he felt.

She continued to smile, and so he wasn't sure if she'd caught it. Then she said, "Think of it as payback." He tilted his head quizzically. "For your help after I got hurt at the museum," she said, albeit a little quieter. Her mind flashed back to the moment she had gotten hurt, and she remembered all the fear and doubt that had immediately flooded her entire being at that moment. She also remembered how, a moment later, she felt him pick her up and help her to safety, and how in that moment, she knew she would be alright.

Nick was also lost in memories of that day. The fear of seeing Judy hurt, the pride in her trust in him, they all came flooding back. He got lost thinking about how happy it had made him, even in that terrifying moment, that her first idea was for them to switch the pellets and have him fake being savage, that she trusted him implicitly not to hurt her. It was such a juxtaposition to the true hurt he had felt during the ill-fated press conference she had given.

It hadn't really sunk in for him how much he had become attached to the rabbit until he felt her knife twisting around in his heart. He had told her to never let anyone see that they got to you, and yet she had immediately countered with, "So, things do get to you?" He lied and said they didn't, but the truth is, why else would he have opened up about his childhood? She had gotten to him, and he had been overwhelmed by this great desire to let her in. He wanted a friend, and he felt like after watching the way Chief Bogo had treated her, realizing how she had been seen as a joke by the mammals she should have been able to trust, that he could trust her.

So when she said what she said, and it reminded him of what the world thought of him, he felt more than just betrayal; he felt true anguish. She had gotten to him, and worse than that, he couldn't stop her from seeing that she had.

And yet, in their cruiser, in that moment he thought that if he hadn't let her see, maybe she never would have come back to him, never made it right, never fixed the damage and made their bond stronger. The thought of it gave him a small shiver of fear at the _What if?_ from Hell.

It was now a quarter to noon, and they arrived at her apartment in silence. Nick had stared at her for a while after her comment, but had eventually settled back on the road. Judy had been uncomfortable with his gaze at first, but eventually realized that he was as lost in memories as she was, and had started wondering what he was thinking about.

She parked the car, got out, and ran around to the passenger door before he could even finish unbuckling. She opened the door, and held out a paw of assistance.

"Oh wow, I'm flattered," he said as he noticed her paw. She scowled at him, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Don't get used to it, Slick," she deadpanned. He smirked, grabbed his things and handed them to her. She tucked them under her left arm, and held out her right paw again. He gratefully took hold, and stepped gently from the car.

"Bogo said I didn't need to be back until one, do you want me to make you any food?" she asked as they walked up to the building's entrance door. Nick thought for a moment.

"Got anything I'd want?" he asked, his voice dripping with snark. She resisted the urge to smack him; no need to risk opening new wounds.

"I have some chinese takeout leftovers in my fridge, actually. Broccoli fried rice and chow mein," she said. Nick looked at her, a little surprised. He knew she loved her fried rice.

"You sure? I mean, I could always just order something, I don't need to take your stu-" he began, a bit rushed. He felt a sense of trepidation as they approached the elevator, suddenly feeling like he was intruding on her space.

She waved a paw at him, smiling that sweet smile of hers, saying, "It's no big deal, it's from last night so it's still pretty good. Just promise you'll enjoy it, so I can vicariously enjoy it as well."

He smiled, the tension leaving him a little. The elevator hummed as it ascended slowly to her floor. They both stood there, quiet now, standing close together as Nick was using her as a bit of a physical support. She didn't need to know how much she was emotionally supporting him, as well. Only so many walls can come down at a time, or else you risk crushing the inhabitants behind them.

They exited the elevator and walked slowly towards her apartment. The hallways was quiet, for which they were both grateful. Right now, in his hospital clothes, Nick did not really have any interest in seeing any other mammals.

They reached the door and Judy let them in. A good amount of natural light was flooding through the living room window, the air inside warm but a little still. She closed the door and turned on the kitchen ceiling fan. She set his uniform down on the couch.

"You can rest in my bed for now, I changed the sheets this morning knowing you'd be staying here," she said as she crossed the living room towards the fridge in the kitchen. She opened the door and grabbed the aforementioned leftovers and placed them on the countertop. Nick watched her silently as she dumped the contents out on a plate and put it in the microwave.

Her hospitality was starting to overwhelm him in his exhaustion. If she did one more casually selfless nice thing for him he wasn't sure if he'd be able to take it.

"Oh! I almost forgot," she said excitedly as she continued to prepare a small snack for herself, "I stopped by your place earlier also and grabbed your essentials, but I also saw a little sticky note on your fridge about blueberry pie?" She had her back to him as she was setting out bread and spreading some peanut butter and jelly on it, not noticing his eyes getting a bit wider. "So, I thought, 'Gee, I know what I'll do!'" she said, slapping the bread together before going back to the fridge and pulling out a pie box. "I went to Marie Clawllendar's and grabbed a…." She trailed off mid sentence as she turned around and saw Nick standing there, his lips trembling and his eyes wet. "Nick?" she said softly, putting the pie quietly down on the counter as she made cautious steps toward him. The microwave beeped loudly as it finished cooking his food.

He made as quick of steps as he could toward her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. She evaded his injury smoothly, not wanting to seem like she was jerking away from the moment. She closed her eyes momentarily, heard him take in a deep breath and let it out as she felt a tear or two drop onto the top of her head. She made sure that she squeezed him as tightly as she safely could.

"You're welcome," she whispered, smiling. He chuckled lightly, but he didn't let go. He took a few more deep breaths, and then slowly let go. She looked up into his eyes, and saw he wasn't crying anymore, but they were still wet. She gave him her warmest smile, and he just smiled back weakly.

"You didn't have to do all this, for me," he said quietly. She looked at him strangely, looking in his face for some sign as to what he really meant. When she saw it, her features softened and her smile fell a little in understanding.

"Nick," she said, grabbing his left paw in hers, "if I knew all I had to do to make you cry was buy you a blueberry pie, I'd have bought you many more by now." She smiled bigger, and he rolled his eyes, but ultimately couldn't help but to laugh. It sounded genuine.

"But seriously Nick, it's my pleasure. You're my closest friend, I'd do anything for you," she said, squeezing his paw a moment before letting go and turning to the microwave, and noticed the pie still sitting on the counter. She put it away, and then went back to the microwave. She took out the food, which was still steaming profusely. She grabbed a fork from the drawer in front of her and mixed the food around, letting off more steam but evening out the temperature. She turned back towards the table and set it down, and pulled out a chair for him.

He sat down slowly, and scooted himself back in. He looked at her one last time as she had her back turned to her own food before turning to look at his food.

"Alright, let's eat!" she said excitedly as she sat down and took a comically huge bite of her sandwich.

"Easy Carrots, I don't want to have to pull a Heimlich today, I might hurt myself," he said through a bite of his own.

She swallowed with a loud gulp before saying, "Don't worry about me, I'm not the one who was impaled yesterday."

Nick grimaced a little, she saw it and he wished she hadn't, he wished _he_ hadn't.

She set down her sandwich, and looked at him with immense guilt in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," she whispered, remorse in every syllable. "I was just trying to make it seem a little less scary."

He set down his fork at the word "scary" and looked at her. He had been so scared, and yet he had tried this entire time to pretend he hadn't been.

He looked at her a moment longer before he asked, very quietly, "Is this how you felt back then?"

She looked at him with a lot less guilt, replaced by a lot of empathy, and said, "You mean the feelings of immense helplessness and realization that you're just a mind trapped in a fragile body?" His nod was small but rapid. "Yeah, it was awful. Except the part where you scooped me up and saved my ass," she added with a small smile. He returned it.

"I bet that felt like how I felt when I heard the EMTs talk about how you cooked that antelope," he said, looking down at his food for a moment. "I've never been so scared, Judy," he said, his voice shaking a little. She didn't move. "I felt like, it felt like I was going to die, right there. Fear like I've never known, I thought he was going to stab all the way through me and," he stopped. He looked back up at her, and showed her all the fear and sadness and pain he had been trying to hide since she had first seen him at the hospital. "And then do the same thing to you," he said. "I think that scared me most of all," he said without thinking. At the words, his eyes went wide a little, realizing what the implications were that, amidst all the fear for his own life, he had room enough to fear for her life _more_.

Judy could tell he was on the verge of tears again, and as much as she thought it was good to cry about things, she knew it made him feel terribly vulnerable. "Well unlucky for him, I charbroiled his hide before he had a chance to get away," she said cockily, and much to her relief, it worked. He smiled big and laughed.

"You're a dangerous bunny," he said, picking up his fork to take another bite of his meal.

"Watch out, Mr. Fox. The prey has learned to fight back!" she teased, taking another bite of her sandwich.

They continued eating, talking about trivial things like station gossip, who was crushing on who, the important stuff. It wasn't until about ten to one that she realized what time it was.

"Oh shoot, I gotta get going or the Chief'll have my pelt," she exclaimed, jumping up from her spot at the table. She rushed to the door, grabbing her keys before stopping a second to look back at Nick. "I'll be done at five, no extra assignments today. I'll stop by the store and grab some stuff for dinner tonight, so I'll be home again around six I hope. Your bathroom stuff is already in the bathroom and I left the clothes I brought you on my bed. Like I said, it's all yours until you're better. See you later, partner!" she smiled at him, and waited until he returned it before she opened the door and disappeared behind it.

Nick stared at the closed door for several minutes, his smile never fading. Eventually, he got up slowly and shuffled his way down to her bedroom. The door was already open and he saw a few of his favorite shirts stacked at the foot of the bed next to some pants and boxers. He discarded the hospital clothes and threw them in the kitchen trash. He slipped on a pair of underwear and one of the undershirts she had brought. He debated on taking a shower, but decided that he could just sleep on top of the blankets with how warm it was and take a shower later.

He set his clothes gently on the floor in a neat stack, and then crawled onto the bed. He flopped down, and within minutes was fast asleep, dreams rife with stories of him and his favorite mammal.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this took so long, I wasn't sure if I wanted to start having these chapters follow up with each other more directly or be as separate as the first few. I think that I'm becoming more confident with these characters, but I have to come up with something fun or exciting to do with them now! Also, I changed the genres, as I don't think I have nearly enough "adventure" in here to justify it. Let me know what you all think, and thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

12:58

The green digits were mocking Judy as she was stuck at a light not one block away from the ZPD.

 _"Come back by one o' clock, Hopps. We need to talk when you return, don't keep me waiting."_

Chief Bogo's words echoed in her mind as she tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, drumming out some unknown beat as she stared at the light, humming nervously to herself, willing it to turn green. She was so anxious about being late, and about what the Chief wanted to talk about. She hadn't mentioned it to Nick, worried that it would only make him feel worse when he was already feeling tired and anxious himself.

12:59

The light turned green, finally, and Judy slammed on the accelerator. She hardly slowed down as she turned into the parking lot, the back bumper slamming down on the pavement as she dodged through the lot into an open spot. She turned off the car, hopped out, and used the motion of slamming the door to propel herself towards the building.

She barreled through the doors, panting, and several people in the lobby area turned to look at her. Clawhauser in particular looked downright terrified for a second before realizing it was just Judy.

1:00

"Hopps!"

He looked down over the balcony and saw her standing there, still catching her breath, and then smirked subtly. He made sure to wipe it away before anyone noticed.

Judy looked up at him, wide eyes, her ears sticking straight up at attention. A second later, she was sprinting towards the stairs. She took them three at a time, determined to get to his office before a minute had passed.

1:01

"Glad you could make it," Chief Bogo said calmly, looking down at the winded rabbit sitting before him.

"Sir," she said, breathing heavily, "glad I could make it, too." She gave him a weak salute, though he knew it was genuine. Had she been Wilde? Not so much.

"How is Officer Wilde?" he asked, all business in his voice.

"Resting comfortably, sir," she said, finally catching her breath a little.

"Is he where we discussed?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," she said back.

Bogo had, at first, been reluctant to agree with her plan. She had come to him before the morning briefing, explaining that after arresting Bellwether, she had been fully reliant on him for several days during her recuperation. She insisted that it had been critical in her speedy recovery, and that she needed to do the same for him. Bogo had cited some obscure, technically only enforced at a chief's discretion, section of code that mentioned such an arrangement to be improper, but had relented that given the circumstances, it would be deemed appropriate. He had insisted that the arrangement be kept between the three of them. To his credit, he left it at that, not mentioning that if word had gotten out about their "arrangement" and the rest of the officers knew.… He could just hear Clawhauser repeating his theory about when the rabbit and fox would finally, as he put it, "profess their pure and undying love for one another."

The thought of it now was enough to make him want to snort.

"Good. Now, on to why you're here," he said, pulling up a red file folder. Her ears perked up again, this time excitedly, eying the folder expectantly. He opened it up and held up a picture of Greg Buckley. "Recognize him?"

Her ears fell and she scowled at the picture. "Yes," she said, her tone betraying the emotions written on her face. Bogo resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her overdrawn reaction to seeing Buckley.

"Gregory Buckley," he said, setting the picture down and reading now from the file before him, "appears at first to be simply a roughed up antelope with a thing for 'horns' and money. However, with a small amount of digging, we actually stumbled onto something a little bigger." Her ears perked up again, and her nose quivered a little. "Turns out, the mammal is a small time narcotics dealer. Mostly catnip, but yesterday when we arrested him, he had something a little more curious on him."

Judy's eyes widened a little with excitement at the development. "What?" she asked, her excitement almost too obvious for the Chief's liking.

"It's the extract of a Class C Botanical," he said, pausing for effect to see if her excitement would shift into something else. When it didn't, he continued on. " _Mendicampum Holicifius"_ He made no reaction on his face.

"What?" she said after a brief moment, her eyes wide, her ears slacking a little.

"It would seem that our metal menace has been meddling with _Mendicampum Holicifius,_ " Bogo said, his face dead serious. Judy looked more confused than before, but slightly less concerned. Had the chief just made a joke?

She quirked her eyebrow up a bit, before she spoke again, "Sir, are you saying that some random antelope arguing on the street with a lynx is the first mammal found in possession of any amount of Night Howlers since we found Doug Rammus?"

"It would seem so, Hopps," he replied.

"That doesn't make any sense," she said, her ears going back up. She leaned back and crossed her arms, her eyes taking on a half-lidded look that he assumed she must have picked up from Wilde. The two of them almost literally begged for the rumors.

"What kind of animal did you say he was threatening? A lynx?" he asked. He obviously knew the answer. His tone had an air of leading to it, as if he had some sort of destination in mind and was slowly leading her there.

She leaned forward, her arms still crossed but her eyes more open. "A predator?"

Bogo nodded slowly, once up, once down, before leveling out and staring her down. They looked at each other for a moment, neither one moving, each trying to see what the other would say next.

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't understand what you're telling me this for?" she said finally.

"I need you to find where it came from," he said simply, leaning forward onto his desk.

"Do we have any leads? Connections?" she asked.

Bogo smiled. "Remember the lynx?"

* * *

Clyde Le Chat was not having a very good week.

Somehow, having a fractured shin and then being arrested on the same day as receiving said fractured shin were not two things he had expected out of this week.

And yet, here he was, sitting in the ZPD's headquarters, his leg in a fresh cast, waiting to be interrogated. All over that asshole antelope.

 _He'll kill me._

He was sitting by himself in one of the police interrogation rooms, and had been by himself for what felt like over half an hour at this point. A rather large rhino, who he thought he recognized, had left him here with nothing but his thoughts and the dull ache in his leg. At least he had those pain meds.

Suddenly, the door flew open and at first, he was confused by the lack of any visible mammal. However, he heard footsteps and leaned around the table a bit and saw the rabbit from yesterday. She looked even more intimidating than he remembered, but that might have had something to do with how much he had been replaying the memory of her takedown of Greg.

He had never seen that look on a bunny's face before.

She hopped up onto a chair across the table from him, but remained standing. He was almost amused by how short she was for the table, but her height seemed to only add to her aura of hidden power. Somehow, she and that fox had caught and cuffed Greg, who was not small for an antelope, and then she had singlehandedly incapacitated him after he attacked the fox. It did not ease his nerves.

A moment later, the large cape buffalo Chief of Police came striding in, a folder in his hand. He slammed the door loudly behind him, causing Clyde to flinch. The rabbit was unfazed.

The chief took a seat and slapped the folder down on the table between himself and the rabbit.

"What do you know about _mendicampum holicifius_?" the buffalo spoke with a powerful baritone, his voice even and revealing nothing about his feelings or intentions.

"Dunno what'yer talkin' about," Clyde said, trying to sound calm. It didn't seem to be too believable, because the rabbit slammed a fist down on the metal table. Clyde flinched again, his eyes widening as he looked at her.

"Cut the shit, Clyde! You know damn well what we're talking about!" she exclaimed, fire burning in her amethyst eyes, as if she might actually shoot flames at him from them and incinerate him right there in the precinct. He started shaking, just a little.

"I-I don't know what G-Greg does with the goods, I just go where I'm told and get what I'm asked to get and then I bring it back to the supplier and get the money for Greg, I swear!" he said, his voice cracking in desperation. The rabbit smiled, crossed her arms, and looked at him with an expression he could only describe as fox-like.

"Well, that was easy enough," the chief said, amusement decorating the edges of his voice. The rabbit gave him a smirk before turning back to Clyde.

"Where did you get your last supply from?" she asked, her voice crackling like a bonfire on the verge of spreading. Fear gripped him. Who was he more afraid of: Greg or her?

He licked his lips nervously, and looked between the two cops. His eyes lingered meeting the chief's for a moment, but the buffalo just shook his head very, very narrowly.

 _I'm not going to help you,_ he said without saying anything.

Clyde looked back at the rabbit.

"I got them from a warthog who I only know as 'Tusk' down in the Marshlands," he said, his voice shaking still. "I don't know where he is, but I know it ain't there."

The chief and the rabbit looked at each other.

"Hopps, you and Wilde patrol the Marshlands from time to time, despite its distance from the city center," the chief said. "Ever seen a warthog there?"

Hopps shook her head, "No, sir. I can't imagine many of them find the environment to be very comfortable." She looked back at Clyde. "Why were you there?"

Clyde shrugged. "I assume for the reason you just stated. Nobody would expect a warthog in the marshes, there's nothing there to link to him."

It had occurred to Clyde as their conversation progressed that he was in extraordinary danger. He would surely make deadly enemies if he came out of this unscathed and Greg didn't, but came out of it nonetheless.

"Look," he spoke again, his tone catching the officers' attention, "I need some sort of protection here. I can't just help you guys unless I know that I'm not going to end up worse than that fox yesterday."

Hopps glared at him when he mentioned the fox, her ears almost pointing at him like an extra set of digits, and she nearly was growling as she said, "That 'fox' would be just fine today if it weren't for you, so I don't think you're in any position to be making demands."

Clyde started to panic. "I-I'm not sayin' he got what he deserved, I just know that Greg'll kill me, I already owe him money and I ain't got any way to pay it back, and I know if he gets outta here I'm done for, please you gotta help me, I'll do anythi-"

The chief raised his arm, demanding silence. Clyde sat back a bit as he closed his mouth, having leaned forward considerably as he spoke.

"Tell us a bit more about Greg Buckley," he said, his tone the same as ever.

"What d'ya wanna know about him? He's the meanest antelope in Central, fancies himself an up and comin' kingpin I reckon," Clyde said, hoping that his rather extremely limited knowledge of Greg would help him win some protection, or at least keep the bastard locked up for a long time.

"Why is he dealing in Night Howlers?" Hopps said, her tone still stern but much less impassioned.

Suddenly, Clyde's eyes widened. "What?! That's what I been givin' that tattooed freak, the god damn _savage sauce_?"

The chief smirked. "That's a new one." Hopps smirked as well.

Clyde started to feel anger rising. He had been played in his time, but never like this. He had been fooled into trading Night Howlers for common catnip and then giving it to Greg for costs that he couldn't cover with the piddly amount of nip he'd been given to work with.

"Why do you owe him so much money?" Hopps asked, as if reading his thoughts. His eyes snapped to attention, meeting hers.

"All he gives me is some common nip and I can't get enough of what he wants with it, so I have to borrow money from him to complete the deals but then he wants it back along with the goods," he said, still feeling angry. "I can't believe I been givin' Greg the sauce this entire time."

"What do you know about Night Howlers?" she asked, her tone taking on a sort of protective edge. Clyde picked up on it without actively noticing it, and he felt comfortable for a moment.

"Only that it's that shit that makes preds go crazy," he said. He squinted at Hopps for a moment before saying, "I remember you now, you're the rabbit that blew apart that sheep's plan to rule the city. You and that fox?"

Hopps nodded, saying, "I thought that we were done with that when we were done with her, but it seems that ol' Greg here," she said, opening the folder on the table and gesturing to a picture of Greg Buckley within it, "has other plans. Or at the least is a pawn in someone else's game. Do you know anything about who he gets his product from or where things go once you give them to him?"

Clyde shook his head and looked down. "No," he said, his voice falling, "I don't know nothin' 'bout what he does with the stuff once we go our own ways. Too far above me," he said, still looking down at his lap.

Hopps sighed. "Well that means we'll just have to get it out of Buckley, then."

Clyde laughed derisively at his lap, saying, "You ain't gonna get nothin' outta him. He'd sooner let you fry him again before he talked."

Hopps grimaced a bit at the mention of her actions the day prior, but quickly pulled herself back together before the lynx could notice.

"We'll see about that," she said defiantly, and she hopped down off the chair. Clyde looked up at her again. She walked a few paces before turning back to look up at the chief, and said, "I've got nothing else to ask him, so if you're alright sir, I'd like to go follow up with Buckley."

The chief, still looking down ominously at Clyde, merely grunted his approval. Hopps nodded and left the room.

Clyde stared blankly at the chief, wondering what was going to happen next. Suddenly, thoughts of his own peril returned to him and he spoke urgently, "Chief, what's gonna happen to me? I can't go back out on the streets if Greg's gonna be around, he'll kill me for sure."

The chief remained as impassive as ever as he stood up to go, saying nothing. He got to the door and Clyde leaned forward as much as he could while cuffed to the table, pleading, "Please! I don't deserve to die just because I been dumb!" The chief stopped with his hand on the door handle, and slowly turned to face toward Clyde.

"Greg Buckley tried to murder one of my best officers yesterday. He's never going to walk on the streets of this city again so long as my word carries any weight. For his sake, he's lucky, because if not for the protection that prison will provide, I can't imagine that he'd last longer than you on the streets after what he did to that fox. Remember how the rabbit tased him?" Clyde gulped and nodded timidly. "That was like an appetizer to the main course he'll thankfully never have to eat." He smirked at the look of horror on Clyde's face, and then opened the door and let it slam behind him. It was several more minutes before the rhino returned to escort him back to a holding cell.

* * *

Judy was walking through the depths of the ZPD's detention center when suddenly her phone buzzed. She pulled it out and looked at it curiously, noting the time as being 3:08 and saw that Nick had texted her.

 _Carrots help me._

Buzz. She started to worry.

 _I'm dying_

Buzz. What?

 _It's so boring here!_

Judy sighed, dropping her arm holding her phone to her side. "God dammit…" she whispered, pinching the bridge of her nose a bit.

 _Don't scare me like that!_ Send.

A momentary pause, and then, _But are you feeling ok?_ Send.

A second later, _Sorry, yeah I'm ok. how's work?_

She smiled, writing, _Scared the shit out of that lynx. I got to play the bad cop for once! Now I see why you wanna do it every time ;)_

She started walking again, heading towards the room where they had cuffed Buckley so that he could be interrogated.

Buzz.

 _Oh Carrots, you're a cruel mammal. I bet that poor little cat was ready to crap himself right there._

She slammed out a reply, _I forgot to mention that Bogo was with me. He was the good cop._

The reply was lightning fast, _! You were the bad cop with buffalo butt in the room? damn carrots! that makes my day_

Judy smiled huge at the thought of it, not really thinking about why.

 _I'm off to talk to Buckley now, find out who supplies him and who he supplies. I've got some very interesting things to tell you when I get home._

She was at the room now, and looked back at her phone just as his next message arrived.

 _Give 'em hell for me, Carrots. My cracked rib is cheering for you_.

She smirked, and wrote briefly, _Ok gotta go, i'll be sure to rib him extra hard for you._

Proud of her joke, she switched her phone to silent and stuffed it away, and opened the door to the interrogation room. Bogo was already there somehow, and she made sure to let the door slam dramatically behind her.

 _Round 2. This'll be fun,_ she thought.

* * *

 **A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I hope you all had a lot of fun reading it! Please let me know what you all think, I'm getting a terrific amount of views, follows, and favorites but not a lot of feedback otherwise. This is the first thing I've written in years and as much fun as it is to write, I write it to be enjoyed by readers! Anyhow, hope everyone has a great day and thanks again for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Chief Bogo did not turn when the door slammed behind Judy as she walked into the interrogation room. He continued to look forward impassively, contemplatively, at Greg Buckley. At first, the antelope had stared him down, but after several minutes of solitude and silence, he had averted his gaze and looked only at his lap.

Judy walked over the chair next to Bogo and jumped up onto it, clearing her throat.

"Greg Buckley," she started, expecting him to look at her. He remained looking down, so she began again after a moment. "Are you aware of what was found in your possession last night?"

"No," he said, his voice low.

Judy sighed. "I'll ask you again, are you aware of what as found in your possession last nigh-"

Greg started to chuckle. Judy's face went blank for a moment before she regained her composure, and scowled.

"Wanna fill us in on the joke, Buckley?" she asked, her tone cold.

Greg finally looked up at her, his eyes full of malice and fear, conflicting emotions running around behind in his mind while he spoke slowly. "You morons have no idea the quagmire you're begging to sink in."

Bogo did not like that and snorted. "Explain," he said, his voice stern as ever. Greg looked over at him after a moment of lingering on Judy, and chuffed.

"No," he said.

"That's alright," Judy said, her voice creepily chipper. Greg didn't like the sound of it, but when he looked back at her he made sure that his face looked as unconcerned as it could. He just looked at her for a moment, before he shook his head a little and shrugged his shoulders.

"You gonna elaborate?" he said, finally, his sense of dread overcoming him.

The smirk she gave him gave him a small chill. "Are you familiar with someone named Amelie Felix?"

Greg was overcome with anger, slamming his hooves on the table and shouting, "You leave Amelie the _fuck_ out of this!"

 _Damn,_ he thought, _now she knows!_

Her face became blank again as she said, "We have several verifiable and reported instances of contact between the two of you," she stated plainly. "It would be no trouble at all to get a warrant to bring her in for questioning."

Greg's anger continued to come hot and fast, "Listen here, you ratty little thing, Amelie doesn't know _anything_ about my business ventures and you had better leave her alone or I swear you won't know what hit you!"

Judy's face remained blank, and she continued to goad him, saying, "There's really only one way for me to find out what she knows. Chief?"

Bogo looked at her finally, gave a curt nod, and snorted. Judy hopped off her seat, heading to the door.

"Wh-where're you goin'?" Greg began, starting to panic.

Judy didn't look back as she said over her shoulder, "To find out what Amelie Felix knows about your 'business ventures' Mr. Buckley."

"I had Night Howlers on me, alright?!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking a little. Judy wiped the smirk off her face before she turned around to face him.

"And?"

"And what? You didn't ask me anything else," he said, getting frustrated.

"I think that Officer Hopps would like to know what happens once you get your product, Mr. Buckley," Chief Bogo said, his tone low but his voice strong. Greg looked at him fearfully for a moment, before turning his head to the side in exasperation, as if begging for some sort of reprieve.

Judy had come back to sit down and looked at Greg evenly, her eyes telling him nothing about what she was thinking. Greg sighed a deep, defeated sigh, and slumped his shoulders.

"I'm not sure where it all goes, I just have one contact on my next step," he said, his voice weak.

"Who else supplies you besides Clyde Le Chat?" she asked.

"I have many suppliers, I don't know all their names, but Clyde's my newest and my least reliable. Always begging me for money to get the product, but nobody else seems to," he replied.

"Alright, well to whom do you sell your Night Howlers?" she asked brusquely.

He hesitated a moment. He had no way out of this. After his failed assault on the fox, and now threats to Amelie, it seemed that he had no wiggle room. Both mammals across from him looked at him expectantly, no changes in their expressions as they let him stew. "A warthog named 'Tusk' out in the Canal District," he replied again.

Bogo and Judy kept their faces blank as they heard the name again. Was it the same Tusk who supplied Clyde? It seemed like it had to be, but they couldn't let Greg know that they had already heard that name or he might stop talking.

"How often do you meet with Tusk?" Bogo said, his voice much more soothing than Judy's; Greg felt his mind ease slightly.

He looked at the Chief as he said, "Once a month. I was supposed to be meetin' with him soon, but he hadn't set a location yet or exact time, so I'm not too sure."

"Once he gets the Night Howlers, you have no idea what he does next?" Judy asked, a tinge of impatience tainting her voice.

Greg looked at her, slightly less relaxed, and said, "No, I already told you, I don't know what he does with it, and I don't care to guess."

Judy sighed, and looked at Bogo. He turned to look at her; they both knew they had exhausted the information Greg Buckley was going to be giving them.

"Buckley, a sketch artist will be here shortly to take a description of 'Tusk' from you. Don't play any games, or you'll find out just how bad a player you are," the Chief said, his tone threateningly dark. Greg mustered up all his courage and kept his face hard, and said nothing. Bogo turned to Judy, "Hopps, meet me back in my office in ten minutes." She nodded, and they both got up and left.

Greg was surprised that their questioning had ended so soon. He was tired and frustrated, and above all scared. He looked at them as they went, and he fixed his eyes on Judy Hopps, and he was overcome with how angry she had made him by threatening Amelie. Suddenly, a sinister little idea came into his head.

 _You wanna play games with the ones we love, rabbit? Two can play that one._

"Hey rabbit," he said as she was about to leave; she and Bogo turned to look at him. She raised an eyebrow, and he said with a grin, "What's your foxy partner's name, Wilde?" She looked at him, a small scowl creeping onto her face. "Real sorry about what happened to him, I was goin' for you but you got outta my way." He could see that she was fighting to keep her face neutral now. He continued, "It's ok, just do me a favor, will ya? Tell foxy to watch his back. Not too many of us on the streets are too fond of you two, 'specially not him." Judy's eyes widened a little, causing Greg to grin wider. She scowled at him, and turned around and stomped out of the room. Greg let out a grand laugh, hoping she could hear him, and the look the Chief gave him told him she had.

 _Small victories,_ he thought.

Out in the hall, Chief Bogo followed after a fuming Judy. He knew that Buckley's words had gotten to her, and he knew that he needed to diffuse the situation before she became a mess of emotion.

"Hopps," Bogo said after her down the hallway. She kept walking. "Hopps!"

She stopped and turned to face him, wishing she had screamed, "What?!" at him but instead just look at him, her ears down and her eyes squinted in anger.

"Take a break. Call your mom, or Wilde. I'll be up in my office and I expect you in ten minutes, but if you take twenty to get there, well," he paused and smiled gently, "I'll understand."

She nodded curtly, her scowl fading considerably, and watched the Chief turn and walk in the opposite direction.

She sighed, feeling some of the tension flow out of her. She pulled out her phone, and turned it back to ring and looked at what notifications she may have missed.

Just one.

 _Carrots my injuries are not a joke._

She smiled and relaxed even more, happy he had replied. However, she remembered what Buckley had just said and she became worried for him; despite Greg being locked up not fifteen feet from her, she was afraid that someone else was going to do something bad to Nick. She had never really considered before that Nick might have made some dangerous enemies simply by becoming a cop. Nobody had ever threatened him before, though, so why would somebody now?

 _Hey I'm done with Buckley, but he spooked me a little, he's not a pushover like the cat was. How are you feeling?_

She looked at the message written out, and hesitated. She didn't want to scare him too, so she changed it.

 _Hey I'm done with Buckley, he's no pushover like the cat was. How are you feeling?_

"Just play it cool," she said to herself. She started slowly walking back up to the lobby of the ZPD, waiting for his reply. It took a minute, but it came.

 _I'm about the same, my rib hurts and my skin is sensitive where they had to cut back my fur to stitch me up, and i'm still BORED!_

She shook her head, smiling again. Yet she was still feeling anxious, and so she said the first thing that came to her mind.

 _Is the door locked?_

A moment passed before he replied.

 _What? Didn't you lock it when you left? I'll check_

 _Yeah it's locked_ he said before she could reply. She let out another breath of relief.

His next message came quickly. _Why? Something wrong?_

She didn't want to tell him what Greg had said through text message, so she simply said, _no I just sometimes forget haha just wanted to check!_

She noticed the time was almost four in the afternoon. It had been a few minutes since the Chief had left her, and despite his offer to let her cool off, she didn't want to waste any time getting out of there today. She really just wanted to get back and be with Nick and make sure he was ok.

She had finally made it to the lobby while she had been texting with Nick, and then made her way quickly up to the Chief's office. She knocked twice, heard a faint, "Come in!" and then opened the door. He looked up and seemed a little surprised to see her, but she closed the door and took a seat.

"Alright, Hopps?" he asked, his tone all business again; just a supervisor making sure his employee was ok.

"Yes, sir, thank you," she said, keeping her tone professional as well.

"Good. First thing's first, Buckley's full of it," he said, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms.

"Definitely," she said, doing the same. "I think he's trying to throw us off of something. First he made mention that we were getting ourselves in over our heads, but then seemed ready to divulge a lot to us and yet ended up telling us very little."

Bogo's eyebrow perked up a little, impressed by her analysis of their interrogation of Buckley.

"Not to mention that he and Le Chat seem to both be pawns in whatever game this 'Tusk' is playing," she added.

Bogo nodded in agreement, "We need to make finding him our top priority. I'm not sure what he's doing with Night Howlers, but the plant is a controlled substance ever since Bellwether. It has, as you're aware, functionality, but if it's being traded in secret on the street then I imagine that it isn't being used as a pesticide."

"Sir, I have a suspicion that whatever Tusk is up to, it's more than just about getting prey and predator to go at it again. I feel like the public wouldn't be so easily fooled a second time, and anyone who's going through this much trouble to have disposable players on the streets would know that?" she said, her tone becoming unsure and nervous as she finished speaking. The chief looked at her, his face expressionless.

After a moment he smiled a bit, and said, "I'm impressed, Hopps. You may be on to something. The question remains, though: what is he, or his controller, up to?"

She shrugged. "I guess we'll have to wait until we catch him to find out."

The chief nodded, and said, "Alright, well there's nothing more to be done until we have a description to go on." He waited a moment, a bit of nervousness flashing across his face, and he said, "Now, Hopps, there's one last thing." Judy didn't like how he said it, and had noticed the look on his face before he'd spoken. He sighed, seeing the concern on her face. "Be prepared for Greg Buckley to receive some sort of reduced sentence if his information and description of Tusk yield the results we need."

Her mouth fell open a bit. She regained herself and very quickly began saying, "Sir, that's not right, we can't just let him get away with what he did to Nick!"

Bogo shook his head a little, saying, "Hopps, I don't plan to let him get away with anything, but you have to understand, it's all we have to bargain with in order to get him to coopera-"

"Sir, he tried to kill him-"

"I know that Hopps-"

"-and if you'd seen his face when...when it happened," she said, her voice cracking with emotion, "then you'd understand why I feel like it's just wrong to give that, that _beast_ anything!" She sniffled a bit, and tried to stop herself from crying. She was suddenly so overwhelmed with her feelings about what had happened, never having really addressed them yet. The fear, the anger, the guilt…mostly the guilt. Buckley's words echoed in her mind, _I was goin' for you_ and she replayed the scene in her mind. She should have seen the attack coming, she should have been able to protect Nick, but she hadn't, and she couldn't.

Bogo sighed, "Hopps, what happened to Wilde wasn't your fault-"

"I should have been p-paying attention better," she said, finally beginning to break into sobs. "I'm the s-senior officer between us and I h-have a responsibility to protect him." She closed her eyes, squeezing out more tears and wiping her face, and took a few deep, shuddering breaths.

Bogo looked down at her with sad eyes, and when she finally met them, she was momentarily stunned.

"Judy, you are not the first officer to be sitting before their chief, crying about feeling like they've let down their partner," he said gently, his voice soft, the soothing baritone washing over her and helping to ease her sadness. "I remember when it was me," he said, very quietly. Her eyes widened a little.

"W-what happened?" she asked, her voice still shaky, repressing more sobs.

He sighed. "It's a long story, but he managed to pull through, just like Wilde will, and we were great partners until he became the Captain of the Third Precinct."

Judy's eyes widened a little as she asked, bewildered, "You were partners with Captain Hornsby?!"

He smirked, "Yes, the very same."

Judy smiled, and wiped away some more tears, sniffling lightly but no longer crying. "Thanks, Chief," she said quietly, still rubbing her face.

"Just remember, Hopps: if you were in his position, and you were stuck at home injured, would you want him feeling guilty and sad for you?" he asked.

She chuckled, sniffled, and looked up at him, "No, sir, I wouldn't."

"Then don't waste your time feeling like that," he said, his tone returning to normal. Judy nodded and gave a salute.

"Sir, with your permission, I'd like to depart for the day," she said, noticing that it was almost 4:30.

Bogo looked at the clock, then looked at his desk as if searching for some reminder for something he had forgotten, but after a moment, shook his head and looked at her before saying, "Dismissed for the day."

She saluted again and slid off the chair, her ears still down and her gait telling how drained she felt. It had been quite the day for her.

What he had been looking for on his desk came rushing back to him. "Hopps," he said just as she was about to leave. She turned and looked up at him expectantly. "It'll be a few days before we get any leads on Tusk. Why don't you take the next few days off before the weekend, maybe visit your parents? You haven't taken a vacation in months." Judy looked at him, saying nothing.

"S-sir, are you sure?" she asked, hesitant, but with a small sense of excitement bubbling up within her.

Bogo merely nodded, before looking down at another file, saying, "I need you to be ready on Monday to hit the ground running, and preferably I'd like Wilde at least back in the office by that time. Relax, and make sure he recuperates. Dismissed," he added, and she quickly turned to leave.

After the door closed behind her, the Chief sighed and rubbed his temples. He hoped that sending the two of them on a vacation was the right thing to do.

Judy quickly made her way to punch out for the day, only saying bye to Clawhauser, before she made her way to her truck and headed to the grocery store.

 _Hey Slick, Bogo let me leave a little early, I'm heading to the store and I'll be home in an hour hopefully._ She put her phone away and started the car. She pulled quickly out of the parking lot and headed toward the local grocer.

A few thoughts were running through her head. First, she would need to call her parents, because as much as she knew they'd love to have her down, she would want to make sure she wasn't going to be imposing. Not to mention, she was going to have to let them know that Nick would be coming, and allow them to prepare for another guest.

Second, she'd need to make sure that Nick was feeling up to going, because she was not going to go without him. The next four days to themselves sounded great regardless of whether they were in her apartment or in Bunnyburrow, but she was hoping that he'd be feeling up to going. She started getting even more excited thinking about showing him her home for the first time and him meeting her family. She wanted to show him the farm, Town Square, the fair grounds, and most importantly, the night sky. She got lost for a moment in her own thoughts, thinking about how much she wanted to share that part of her past with him.

Before she knew it, she was at the store and was halfway done checking out her few items when her phone buzzed.

 _sorry just woke up again, turns out bodily injury takes a lot out of you. almost back?_

She smiled to herself, and wrote back, _Yeah just in the check-out, about to pay. Have you taken a shower yet?_

"That'll be forty-seven eighty-three, please," the bored voice of the gazelle cashier in front of her broke Judy out of her thoughts, and she quickly fumbled with her money before paying.

Her phone buzzed again, and she looked at it as she pushed the cart out to her truck, _uh...how long until you're back?_

She laughed for a moment, before writing, _You've got probably twenty minutes, enjoy it, but make sure you turn the water on before you're ready to get in, it takes a minute to warm up ;)_

 _Got it_ he said back, and she put her phone away to load the groceries into the truck.

Like promised, she arrived back at her place about twenty minutes later. It took her two trips to get everything into the apartment, but by the time she was done, she heard the water turn off in the bathroom.

"I'm back!" she called out, trying to give him fair warning not to come out of the bathroom naked.

A moment later, he appeared, only wearing boxers and his fur still slightly damp. He looked the tiniest bit embarrassed, and said, "Oh, I didn't realize you were back already, must have lost track of time in there." His voice was a bit sheepish, and he rubbed the back of his head. Her eyes found his stitches momentarily, and she quickly looked away, afraid he would notice her staring and she felt her face get hot at the thought of it.

 _Thank god for this fur_ , she thought.

Nick quickly made his way to her bedroom and came out a minute later wearing a loose fitting t-shirt and some gym shorts.

"Go ahead and just relax, I'll be done cooking shortly," she said to him over her shoulder from the kitchen. She was having trouble getting that mental image of him standing there wearing so little out of her mind.

"What's on the menu for tonight?" he said, his voice sounding very close to her, as if he were behind her. She turned quickly and saw that he was only about a foot away, leaning against a counter. He had his arms crossed and was smirking slightly.

"Well, I decided to grab some crickets for you, and thought I'd make some cricket and vegetable stir fry," she said, continuing to prep for the food.

"Ooh, that sounds delicious," he said evenly, not trying to sound too excited. "I assume you'll be skipping the crickets?"

She chuckled, "Yeah, they're not really my thing, y'know?" She looked at him and smiled before turning back to the task at hand. Suddenly she remembered about her potential plans for the weekend. "Hey Nick, I wanna ask you something," she said, her voice guarded and it put him slightly on edge. Was something wrong?

"What's up, Carrots?" he asked, his tone sounding concerned.

She looked at him and smiled. "Nothing bad, just wanted to know if you are feeling alright enough to maybe visit my parents tomorrow through the end of the weekend? Bogo said I should take the next two days off, and I thought it might be nice to get out of the city for a couple of days." She started to get nervous as she had continued to talk, worried he would freak out and not want to go, or say he didn't feel well enough, or that it was too much for him right now, or-

"I mean, as long as I'm not expected to farm while we're there, that sounds like a fun time," he said, smirking. She looked at him again and laughed.

"No, no farming I don't think," she said. "I'll call them, then. I wanted to make sure you were ok with it, first."

"Well thanks, Carrots, I'm honored," he said, and slinked his way off to the living room to sit down. Truth be told, he was feeling pretty tired and sore, and was not sure that he was feeling up to going, but when else were they going to have an opportunity like this? He knew how happy it'd make her, and he really enjoyed making her happy.

He began to think about what it would be like to meet her parents. He'd spoken to them once on the phone before, very briefly, when they had called while he and Judy had been out on patrol. He knew they knew he was a fox, but he still had a bit of nervousness around it. Judy had long ago told him (with many tears involved) that the Fox Repellant she'd had on her when they met was from them. She'd also explained that since then, they'd partnered with a fox from her childhood, though she was hesitant at first to explain how they knew him. When he'd eventually gotten it out of her what had happened to her as a kit, he'd felt a lot of shame and guilt for the actions of another fox. She'd had to spend quite a while convincing him that one, she did not project any of her emotions from Gideon onto him, and two, that she'd learned to forgive him long before he'd ever apologized to her for it.

Still, the fear was there that they might not like him, and if they didn't like him, then how would he ever hope to remain more than just her co-worker? The thought hit him like a ton of bricks, and at first he was confused about why he'd even thought it. Sure, they were friends, good friends, maybe even best friends? But that didn't mean that would have to stop if her parents didn't like him. Or would it?

He became drowsy, sitting back on the couch thinking about a zillion "what if" scenarios and fell into a half-sleep state, but he snapped out of it as he heard Judy talking.

"Hey mom, how's it going?" she asked. A pause. "Oh I'm fine, yeah nothing's wrong, actually I was just wondering if maybe I could come visit tomorrow for a few days?" she paused again, and then began once more. "Yeah, yeah it's a vacation, I'm not being sent away. Although Nick was hurt pretty bad yesterday, so that's part of it. No, no, no he's not in the hospital, they only kept him overnight, but he's here right now, wanna talk to him?"

He panicked a moment and made sure he looked asleep. He heard her footsteps coming toward him and then, "Oh," she whispered, "looks like he fell asleep on the couch while I'm cooking." A pause. "Yeah, he's been pretty tired since I got him this morning," she said, and he heard her walk back to the kitchen and her voice stay quiet. He strained to hear. "No, nothing that serious, but we were apprehending this antelope who had sharp metal tips on his antlers, and the mammal stabbed him with it. Yeah, it was pretty scary, I feel horrible, I should have seen it coming." Nick felt the overwhelming urge to shoot up and tell her it wasn't her fault, but he didn't want her to stop talking about it, and so he was frozen where he lay.

"Yeah I know, the chief said the same thing, but still, I can't help but feel guilty. Lucky it was from an angle and not straight on, or else I think it could have been way worse. Plus one of his ribs got in the way, guess that's what they're for," she said before pausing. She did a lot of listening and didn't speak again for about a minute. "Well thanks mom, I needed to hear that. But anyway, you're sure it's ok if we come? Ok, well then we'll be leaving probably in the morning or early afternoon, I'm not gonna rush him around. Yeah, yeah of course, I'll tell you when we leave. Ok, love you, bye!"

She continued to cook, and Nick drifted slowly away as the only sound he could hear was the sizzling of the vegetables and crickets on the stove.

After what felt like only a second, he felt a gentle paw shaking his shoulder. "Nick? Nick, the food's ready," Judy said softly, and he opened his eyes and saw her standing over him, smiling. He gave her a small smile and sat up.

"Sorry, musta dozed off," he said, rubbing his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, just come on and eat," she said, walking away.

"Did you talk to your parents yet?" he asked, knowing the answer but trying his best to sound curious.

She nodded, handing him an already prepared plate. "Yeah," she said, "I called my mom and we talked for a few minutes. They said it's no problem, and so I was thinking we could leave tomorrow morning? Is that gonna be ok?" She looked at him from across the table, her face looking a little nervous.

He smiled at her, and said, "Yeah that's fine, just not too early, alright?" She chuckled a little, and he added, "Talk about anything else with them? I know you haven't spoken in a few days."

Her right ear twitched a little, something he noticed that she did when she wasn't being totally honest, and said, "Oh nothing really, just told them how you'd gotten hurt and she was pretty worried, but I assured her you're a tough fox and that the other guy had come out worse." She looked at him and smirked, having avoided his gaze while speaking.

 _Flattering story,_ he thought, before saying, "Aww, you think I'm tough?" She rolled her eyes, and he chuckled lightly. Finally, he took a bite of the food and was surprised at how good it tasted. "Oh wow, Carrots, this is good!" he said, food in his mouth.

She laughed, saying, "Glad you like it. One of the few things I'm really good at cooking."

While they continued eating, Judy told him all about the way she'd interrogated Clyde and Greg, getting him to laugh at some of the things she'd said to them. She also explained how there was possibly a new Night Howler trafficking ring.

"But wait, wait the best part was when Clyde realized we were talking about Night Howlers," she said, laughing still, "he called it 'savage sauce' or something."

Nick let out as big a laugh as he could, and said, "That's a new one, I'm sorta bummed I didn't think of it myself."

"I'm not," she said, grinning wickedly. His smile melted into a glare, and she just laughed.

A thought came to him, and he said, "So wait, they're both being played by this 'Tusk' guy but d'you think he's taking what Buckley sells him, and then charges Le Chat more, and then just goes in a circle?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, but we didn't get much out of Buckley. I did gamble a bit by bringing up a cougar named Amelie Felix, someone who's either like a sister or a lover, but either way he's pretty protective."

Nick whistled. "Pretty brazen, Carrots. How'd he take it?"

She winked and said, "About as well as you'd expect." They both laughed.

She left out Greg's veiled threat to Nick's safety and how guilty and scared it had made her feel.

After they'd finished eating, and Judy had cleaned up, Nick said, "I think I'm gonna go to sleep, I don't want to keep us here too late in the morning tomorrow."

Judy yawned a little and stretched after putting the dishes in the sink, saying, "That's fine, I'm gonna just get us the tickets now for the train and then go to sleep myself. The train takes a little longer than driving, but it's more relaxing."

Nick yawned too, and started walking towards the bedroom. "Sounds good to me. Good night, Carrots," he said over his shoulder.

"G'night, Slick," she said tiredly from the couch. He smiled, and closed the door.

He crawled over to the bed, and curled up under the sheets, hugging his pillow and smiling.

From the other room, Judy made the couch up for her to sleep on, bought the tickets, and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this took a couple of days, and also that it ended up being so long, but I felt like I didn't want to just do another interrogation scene and leave it. Plus we haven't been back with Nick for a little while. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this update, and I appreciate all your reviews so far. Truly enjoy writing this. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

There are a lot of different ways to say "I love you." Some are more direct than others, while others are almost impossible to detect.

One of the more direct ways is to simply come out and say it.

One of the subtler ways is to giddily eat a blueberry pie given to you by your best friend and neglect to wipe your mouth right away.

"Nick I swear, you're not just eating that pie, it's like you're...I don't even know," said Judy, laughing as she looked at Nick from the bathroom door. She'd gotten up that morning to get in the shower around 10am or so, and had seen that he was still fast asleep in her bed when she'd snuck in to get some clothes. Not wanting to rush him, she decided she would take a bit of a longer one and enjoy the warmth of the water. However, by the time she'd gotten out, dried, and put on her clothes, she'd come out of the bathroom to find him mid-chomp, looking at her with wide eyes as if he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't have. She couldn't help herself but to laugh at him and think that it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. His cheeks puffed out, full of pie, the blueberry pulp all over his lips, his green eyes wide and his ears sticking straight up.

He gulped, and gave her a wicked grin, flashing his normally white teeth to reveal that they too had been assaulted by blue.

"I, uh...I woke up and was feeling a bit hungry," he said casually, as if it were normal for a mammal to wake up and just destroy half a pie by himself.

"Wait, you were hungry?" she asked, feigning surprise. "I couldn't tell."

"I'll have you know, Carrots," he said, shoving more pie into his mouth, and proceeded to continue with his mouth full, "that I am very, very grateful that in my time of great hunger, I was able to find this blueberry delight to save my life."

Judy shook her head and walked back to the bedroom, and started packing the necessary clothes she'd need for the trip to Bunnyburrow. She looked at the clothes she'd brought him and took stock of it. When she'd stopped by his place the day before, she had grabbed enough for him to have stayed at her place for over a week. Never one to half-ass something, she still felt compelled to double check that her efforts would be sufficient for the trip they were planning.

"Hey Nick, d'you have any preference on what clothes you bring?" she called from the room. She heard him close the pie box and open the fridge to put it away. After a moment she heard him walking toward the bedroom.

He started talking from the hallway, "Yeah I need to make sure I pick only my best," he said before appearing in the doorway, "so that your family doesn't think I'm some sort of degenerate."

Judy rolled her eyes. "Nick, you're not some dirty secret, they know who you are and that you're a good mammal. You'd have to show up basically wearing a rabbit pelt to give them the wrong impression."

His eyes widened, and he said, his voice low, "Carrots…" he tried to sound hurt, and for a second she was afraid she'd had another humor misfire, but then he continued, "my rabbit pelt is my most favoritest piece of clothing! How could I ever leave it behind me?"

She shot daggers at him with her eyes. He laughed, and then she smiled.

Sometimes "I love you" is said repeatedly and nobody notices.

"Do you want to take a shower before we go? It's a four hour train ride," she said as she continued to gather her own clothes and pack them into a bag beside his.

He thought about it for a moment, and then asked, "What's the shower situation like there?"

She looked up at him. "As in, do they have them?"

He put his paws up in defense, hurriedly saying, "No, no I meant like, is it going to be hard to get one with, uh, all the competition?"

Judy considered for a moment if she should let him keep thinking he was digging himself into a hole or if she should rescue him. She decided to have some fun.

"What do you mean, 'competition'?" she asked, her tone accusatory.

He began to look nervous, saying, "I just meant, I know that there's gotta be a bit of a struggle, I mean there are a lot of rabbits there, and I just wasn't sure if I would have a chance later today or if I should do it now? I mean does everyone have access every day? I mean I want to assume yes because it feels rude not to but then I don't want to just assume that everyone there sees it as a requirement?" He stopped rambling for a moment and looked at her, his ears pinned back, his tail twitching, and his hands gesticulating wildly as he spoke. It was all she could do to resist how cute it was.

"What, do you think we just don't believe in bathing in the country? Like we're just backwater hicks?" she said, trying not to laugh.

"No!" he exclaimed, his eyes growing larger, his tail flailing about behind him, his paws flying out wide. "I just want to know if I'll have the opportunity tonight or if I should do it now!"

Judy stared at him, and he looked back at her, worry written on his face and what she hoped was disgust on hers. His tail had come to a halt, sticking up very high behind him and his ears were pointing straight up. After about ten seconds, though, the tension broke and she started laughing. Loud. His tail twitched and his ears flattened.

"You...what...Carrots, that's not fuh…." he fumbled with his words, looking visibly deflated. Judy calmed her laugher, and got up to walk towards him. She gave him a gentle hug.

"Sorry Slick, I couldn't resist," she said, chuckling. "If you want to wait, you'll have no trouble bathing once we're there."

"That was mean, Carrots," he said darkly. "I have never been in any rabbit home besides this one," he said gesturing around behind her back while she continued to hold him. "I don't wanna, you know... _mess it up_."

She pulled away from him and looked up at him. She smiled gently and he gave her a small smile, one of his genuine ones, and she took his wrists in her paws.

"Nick, I promise that I won't let you make a fool of yourself. They're gonna love you," she said.

Other times, "I love you" is implied rather than said.

She let go of his wrists, and for a moment he felt the warmth of her paws linger on his skin through his fur, and he wished it were back, but she turned and went back to the bag.

"These clothes all alright?" she asked, gesturing towards it. He walked over and inspected the contents of the bag.

After a brief once over, he nodded and said, "Looks fine to me, fuzz butt." She gently smacked him on the arm for that one.

"Watch it, Wilde," she said, faking an indignant tone. She started zipping up the bag, but then stopped. "Go grab your bathroom stuff, don't worry about mine. They'll have things there for me."

He turned and went to the bathroom and gathered up his supplies, and returned with them in the bag she'd brought them in.

"Hey Carrots," he said, a thought coming to him. He waited for her to look up at him before continuing, "Is it gonna be ok for me to, uh, call you, well...call you 'Carrots' around them?" He had thought about it briefly the night before as he lay in bed before falling asleep, but it had been one of those thoughts you have just before dozing off that doesn't stick with you when you wake next.

She smiled before saying, "They've heard you shouting, 'Hey Carrots, who's that?' when they call more than enough times to know it's meant lovingly."

He sighed in relief, and said, "Good, because I don't think I could bring myself to say 'Judy' for four days."

"You might want to avoid 'fuzz butt' though," she said scoldingly. She placed his bag of bathroom supplies in the duffle bag, and then zipped it up. "Ready?" He nodded. "Alright then, let's get going."

She picked up the bag and slung it over her shoulder. It was a bit heavy for her, but she knew that he was in no condition to carry it. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed her phone, then went to the door. They both walked out and she locked it behind them, and they proceeded down to her truck.

The drive to the train station was quick and quiet, and Judy suspected that Nick actually managed to doze off in the ten minutes it took them to get there. After arriving in the long term parking area, they walked over to a self-service booth and printed the parking pass and the tickets. Nick waited by the booth while she ran back to the car to put up the permit and then in a flash she was back.

They walked at his pace to the platform, and within a few minutes the next train that would take them where they were going arrived.

Luckily for them, the time of day and the day in the week meant that few mammals were traveling in this direction, so finding a secluded area of the train was easy.

"How you feeling?" she asked after they'd situated themselves and the train was moving.

He let out a deep sigh, looking out the window and said, "I'm still feeling pretty drained, if I'm being honest. Will it bother you if I sleep a little on the way?"

Judy felt the smallest twinge of guilt but said calmly, "No that's totally fine, I figured you would still be tired. Don't worry about me, I have my music and a book on my phone." She wiggled her phone at him and he smirked, catching it from the corner of his eye.

The conductor came by a few minutes later to check their tickets, and was quickly gone. Judy watched excitedly as they passed through the various districts of Zootopia on their way out. It reminded her of the feelings she had the first time she came into the city over two years ago, but this time she felt a different kind of excitement. She looked over at Nick, whose eyes were now closed, and smiled.

She leaned back in her chair, put in her earbuds, and selected her favorite playlist. She pulled out her phone and started reading.

About half an hour passed, with Judy glancing occasionally at Nick to see if he was sleeping well, and then suddenly he slumped over a bit and rested his head on her shoulder. She was startled at first, wondering if he was messing with her, but she noticed how awkwardly bent his body was and imagined that he was not doing this to himself consciously. After the shock of it passed, she came to enjoy the warmth of his cheek on her shoulder, and the feeling of comfort that came with him resting on her. After a few minutes, though, she couldn't stand to let him contort like that. She gently scooted over a little bit, and brought his head down to rest on her lap. He let out a big breath in his sleep, and seemed to relax more. She smiled and went back to her book.

Occasionally, "I love you" isn't said at all, but rather is expressed in small actions.

Eventually, Judy herself felt the tug of sleep, and looked at the time. She figured that they had at least two hours before they'd arrive in Bunnyburrow. She set her phone timer for an hour and a half, choosing a gentle tone to hopefully only wake her when it went off. She pulled out her earbuds and allowed herself to soak in the sounds around her: the train's wheels rolling underneath them, the wind whipping around the car, Nick's gentle, even breathing. She sighed, and closed her eyes. She put a paw on Nick's shoulder, and the other against the top of his head between his ears. She fell asleep in moments.

Her alarm went off and she woke instantly, but felt calm and turned it off deftly before he was disturbed. Nick was right where she'd left him. She looked out the window and saw familiar country passing them by. She knew they were getting close, and so she decided to text her mother and tell her that they were almost there.

 _Hey mom, we're about twenty minutes out, see you soon!_

She put her phone down and looked out the window, absentmindedly petting Nick's head, slowly rubbing her paw through his soft head fur, running her nails into it and making gentle furrows between his ears. She felt him stir a little, and groan lightly. His breathing remained unchanged, and he stayed sleeping.

She looked down at his sleeping face and smiled a little, wondering when she had decided she thought he was so darn cute. Had it been recently? It had definitely been before he got hurt, though at first she had been unsure.

She thought back to a month ago, when he had taken her out to dinner for her birthday at the Dunes in uptown Sahara Square. He had insisted that she not look at any of the entree prices when choosing her meal, but she had looked anyway and acted like she hadn't. He had worn a nice charcoal gray button up shirt with a thin black tie and black slacks, and had bought her a beautiful silver necklace with a tiny, bejeweled little silver carrot on it. She had loved it the moment she saw it, and was worried that he had wasted all of his money on it. Of course, she had no idea how much her joy followed by concern had made the gift seem more perfect to him, gratifying him in all the best ways. She had, however, noticed the look of nervousness that he wore then entire night when he wasn't cracking some joke.

Maybe that was when she had decided he was cute. The way his ears expressed every emotion that he hid with his words, how his tail swished around emphasizing what his ears told her so clearly. Did he notice little things her ears did? She hoped so.

Her phone buzzed, and she looked down at it.

 _Sounds great Jude, your father and I are heading to the station to pick you up. How's Nicky?_

Judy thought about how much she might die of embarrassment if Nick knew that she called him "Nicky" to her parents on occasion.

 _He's been sleeping for a while, he's really been so exhausted since what happened. Can you just remind the kids one last time to go easy on him?_

She re-read the message at least twice after sending it before the reply came.

 _Don't worry, your father has made it pretty clear that anyone who has enough energy to badger Nicky has enough energy to plow a field by themselves._

Judy snickered to herself. How many times had she heard dad make a threat similar to that when he was irritated?

 _Thanks mom. Also, I only call him "Nicky" to you and daddy so if you call him that make sure you don't say I do too!_

Judy sent it and then worried that maybe she was giving her mother the wrong idea when she got the reply.

 _Don't worry Jude, it's our little secret ;) ;) ;)_

"Ugh," she said quietly to herself, shaking her head a little. She looked out the window again and saw that they were especially close now. She decided that Nick would need to wake up now or they would be risking the train leaving again with them still on board.

She gently shook his shoulder, whispering, "Hey Nick, we're almost there." He groaned petulantly, and she grinned. "Wake up, sleepy head! Time to meet the family!"

He opened one eye and peeked up at her. "Do I have to?" he croaked.

She smiled and said, "Yes, dumb fox. Now get off my lap."

He sat up as fast as he could, and looked definitively embarrassed and decidedly adorable. He grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, musta...slipped or somethin'…" he said, his voice trailing off as he looked around.

Yup, decidedly and indisputably adorable.

They both felt the train beginning to slow, signaling their approach to the platform.

"Ready, partner?" she said cheerily, gathering up their things. Nick just looked around, still groggy, as if making sure he wasn't forgetting something.

"Yeah. Yeah, let's go," he said after a moment, still gathering his wits. They stood up, and the train came to a slow halt. They both staggered forward at the final lurch of the stop, and then continued on their way out of the train.

Immediately upon exiting the train, they were bombarded.

"Hey Judy!"

"Judy Judy Judy!"

"Ooooh is that him, is that Judy's fox?"

"He's so soft!"

"He's so much shinier than Gideon!"

"I wanna touch his tail, let me touch it!"

Nick's eyes were as wide as Judy had ever seen them, looking around his feet with a stunned expression as a dozen of her siblings swarmed him and began to hug his legs and pet his tail.

"Kids! Remember what I said! If you have enough energy to badger Nick-"

"-then we have enough energy to plow a field!" came a chorus tiny rabbits. Most of them backed off immediately, with a few lingering at his feet. Judy was relieved to see him relax, and so she rescued him from the stragglers.

"Hey, c'mere you! Pay attention to me, your long lost sister!" she said, grabbing the nearest bunny and tickling him as she picked him up. The giggles were numerous.

Finally, Bonnie and Stu walked up and gave Judy a great hug together.

"Hey there Jude," said Stu.

"Oh sweetheart, it's so good to see you," said Bonnie.

"I missed you both!" said Judy as she gave them both a quick kiss on their cheeks. They pulled apart, and then Judy turned around and gestured to Nick. "Mom, dad, meet Nick!"

Nick stuck out a paw and said, "Pleasure to finally meet you both." He smiled, although Judy could tell it was a nervous one.

"Pleasure's all ours, Nick," Bonnie said, taking his paw.

Stu grabbed it as soon as she'd let go, saying, "With how much Judy talks about ya, it's almost like we've met before!"

From behind Nick, Judy shot daggers at her father.

"Yeah, given that we're _partners_ at _work_ , and how much I _love my job_ , it's _no surprise_!" she said through half-gritted teeth. Luckily for her, Nick was too focused on making a good impression that he didn't notice how nervous her father's words had made her.

Bonnie let out a big breath and said, "Well now, I'm sure you too much be famished! Let's get back to the house and I'll get dinner started!"

Judy relaxed a little, saying, "That sounds great! What's on the menu?" They walked away from the train, which began to take off as they moved further away.

Stu piped up excitedly, "We just finished reaping a patch of carrots and other vegetables for some delicious vegetable soup, _and_ ," he said excitedly, "we have the freshest tofu to throw into it for Nick here."

Nick smiled, relaxing that they'd thought of his dietary needs so...well, thoughtlessly.

"Oh, and that's not all!" Bonnie said, her voice excited too. "We have a whole harvest of blueberries to wash and I wasn't sure if I wanted to make a few dozen muffins or pies with them!"

"Oh, you should definitely make muffins!" Nick said excitedly. The three adult rabbits turned to look at him. "You know, if you want to," he said, his voice trailing off nervously.

Bonnie laughed. "Muffins it is, then!"

"Alright Bon, you take the kids down the path and I'll see you when you all get back. Judy, Nick, I brought the truck so you kiddos wouldn't have to walk all the way home," Stu said, gesturing towards the family truck.

"Aww, thanks daddy!" Judy said, giving him a strong hug. His ears fell and he smiled, but perked them up when she pulled away.

"Of course Jude, wouldn't want to make Nick here walk all that way after everything!" he said, giving Nick a pat on the shoulder.

"Oh that's right he fought a gazelle!"

"No idiot it was an _antelope-"_

"Did you win?"

"Of course he did, he kicked its butt!"

"Wow!"

Nick chuckled at all the kids, and said, "I'm not the one who took him down. You shoulda seen Judy, she really laid him out!" He pointed at Judy as he finished talking, and gave her a wicked grin.

She rolled her eyes, "And I'd do it again to any one'a'ya, so watch it!" She flashed them all a grin of her own, and they all started cheering and screaming and running away.

Bonnie laughed, and said, "Alright you three, I'll see you at home." She turned away and started leading all the kids down the dirt road.

Nick, Judy, and Stu headed to the truck. Judy threw their bags in the bed of the truck and they all got in. Nick let Judy sit next to her father in the middle of the big seat, and then got in after her and closed the door.

The drive was quick, and they passed Bonnie and the kids not too far from the train station. They got back to the house within ten minutes, and Nick was confused at first when all he saw was a quaint little farm house that looked like it would only be able to comfortably accommodate ten or so mammals.

"Most of the 'house' is underground," said Judy, noticing his confusion as they got out of the truck. "Most of the house above ground is living areas and mom and dad's room along with a couple of guest rooms." Nick simply nodded, looking around at the house, and then at the barn, and the vast, endless fields.

The house itself was a faded blue with white trim, and looked like it had been around for a hundred years. They walked slowly up the drive to the front door, and Nick's nose was overwhelmed by the scent of rabbit and carrots.

"Welcome home!" she said to him, gesturing widely with her arms around the entryway of the house.

He chuckled and said, "'Casa de Carrots' has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

She dropped her arms with a soft _slap_ at her sides. "Really, Nick? 'Casa de Carrots' is the best you could do?" He shrugged lazily, and she laughed. "Anyway, want a tour?"

"Do I have a choice?" he shot back, earning him a gentle punch to the arm.

"No," she said, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him deeper into the house.

By the time she was done showing him the house proper and part of the burrow underneath, Bonnie had returned with the kids and had begun to cook.

"Hey there!" Judy said as she and Nick entered the kitchen to find her mom and some of her older siblings cooking the dinner. She took a deep breath, and let it out, saying "That smells delicious. Need some help?" She walked over to her mother and took over dicing the dozens of carrots laid out on the counter.

"Sure, just finish getting those veggies ready and I'll get back to prepping the broth," Bonnie said, walking over to the stove where she had several large pots over a low flame.

Nick just took in the scene, the half-dozen bodies running around, effortlessly dancing around each other as they went about their tasks, taking over for one another and retreating when the other came back to their task.

"Hey Nick, you can go relax in the family room if you want," Judy said over her shoulder, giving him a smile. "I bet some of the younger ones are in there if you're up to playing around?"

Nick nodded, and headed into the family room. Several smaller bunnies were running around chasing each other, screaming excitedly whenever one was caught. Nick decided that he should have a little fun, too.

The next bunny that ran by, he swooped out his tail and covered its eyes. The giggling scream that followed told him that he had struck gold.

For the next half of an hour, he walked around slowly, nonchalantly covering bunny after bunny with his tail, whistling as though he had no idea what he was doing. The delighted shrieks of the small bunnies had attracted Stu's attention at one point, but he'd simply smiled when he saw what was going on and gone back to prepping the dining area.

Eventually, Nick's energy was running low, so he excused himself back to the kitchen. He walked up to Judy and said quietly, "Anything I can do to help?"

She was stirring a smaller pot of broth and vegetables, and he saw floating cubes of tofu in it and assumed it was all supposed to be for him. She looked up at him and said, "No, you just took two or three for the team in there by keeping them occupied. Normally half of cooking is fending off the little ones." She turned back to the pot and added a dash of salt and pepper to it. She lifted up a ladle and blew on it gently, then offered it to Nick. He hesitated before pressing his lips to it and taking a light sip. She looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" she said after a moment.

He smacked his lips comically and said, "It's delicious."

She relaxed her shoulder and put the ladle back, continuing to stir. "Good," she said, her tone taking on a casual air of knowing, "it needs to have the perfect broth balance before we let it sit for a few minutes and soak the flavor into the veggies."

Within ten minutes, everyone was called into the dining area to take their seats and get ready to eat. Nick helped Judy and Bonnie carry the various pots into the room and set them evenly down the table. Judy put Nick's smaller pot near the end, where he assumed that she and he would be eating. After everyone was settled and the food placed, the adults sat down and everyone started serving themselves.

Nick really did love the soup. He found the flavor to be full and the vegetables to be tastefully portioned. It was good fortune that he particularly liked tofu, as not all predators liked the texture of it too much. He ate until his belly hurt from being so full, which Bonnie took as the strongest of compliments.

It was about halfway through dinner that Nick realized he had finally relaxed, and that he felt a strange sense of comfort that he hadn't felt in a long time. He zoned out of the table talk for a few minutes, thinking about what it was that he was feeling. It had taken a hearty laugh from Judy at some hijinks from her siblings that made it clear to him.

He felt at home.

After dinner was eaten and the table cleaned up, Judy and Bonnie went back to the kitchen to start washing blueberries to make into muffins. Nick, exhausted and full, had retired to the family room and laid out on the couch. He had fallen asleep almost instantly.

"He is so charming," Bonnie said as she rinsed out a strainer full of berries.

"Nick? Yeah, he can be when he wants to be," Judy said wistfully, plucking the stems off of berries before setting them into another strainer for washing.

"Has he been this sleepy since he was attacked?" Bonnie asked, concern creeping into her voice.

Judy stopped for a moment, looking down at her feet before replying, "Yeah, he's slept a lot yesterday and today. I don't blame him, though," she said, resuming her plucking. "The doctor said that his rib was cracked pretty badly, and that if the antelope had hit him any harder, he might have had a punctured lung."

"Oh heavens," Bonnie said under her breath. She turned to look at Judy and said, her voice stronger now, "Well there's no sense dwelling on that. I just wanted to make sure he was ok."

Judy sighed, continuing her work. "I just wish I could have done something to stop it from happening," she said, her voice falling and her face downcast.

Bonnie set down her strainer in the sink and wiped off her hands, never taking her eyes off of Judy. She bent down and grabbed her paws, and Judy looked her in the eyes. "Sweetie, you can't blame yourself. I know how much you love him, but you can't beat yourself up over it." Judy's eyes went wide.

"What?" she said, her voice shaking a little.

"What, what?" said Bonnie, her face scrunching up in confusion.

"What you just said, about how much I…." Judy couldn't finish the sentence.

"Love him?" Bonnie supplied. Judy just nodded quickly. "Oh Judy, it's obvious from the way you've been looking at him all day."

Judy's ears got hot. "Really?"

Bonnie nodded and smiled. "I don't blame you. His nervousness is difficult to find less than endearing," she said, standing up and returning to the sink.

"Yeah, it is that," Judy said, her eyes and voice distant.

"You do love him, don't you?" Bonnie said, looking at Judy while the water ran over more berries. Judy looked up at her, her ears flat against the back of her head.

"Is it bad if I do?" she asked quietly. Bonnie smiled and turned back to looking at the berries.

"Not even a little bit, my dear," she said gently. Judy smiled, and went back to plucking berries.

After an hour, they had cleaned a sufficient amount of berries to make enough muffins for everyone. Bonnie had tasked some of the younger ones with preparing the batter, and it was nearly nightfall when the pans all went into the oven.

"These'll take an hour or so to cook and cool before we can eat, why don't you go check on Nicky?" Bonnie said to Judy, who simply nodded and walked into the family room.

Nick was still asleep on the couch, but a few of her littlest siblings were curled up around him with two having draped his tail over them like a blanket. She just looked at the scene for a moment, soaking up each detail before she walked over to him and gently shook him awake.

"Hey there Slick, feeling alright?" she asked him.

He rubbed his eyes and sat up a little. "Been waking up to your worried voice a lot lately," he said groggily. "I'm feeling fine, I see your brothers and sisters have no fear, too," he said, gesturing around at the sleeping bunnies around him.

"Yeah, most bunnies their age don't know how to be scared," she said with a bemused tone. "It isn't until later that we learn to fear you wily preds."

Nick rolled his eyes before swiveling around to sit up on the couch. Several of the little bunnies stirred at his movement.

He started sniffing the air rapidly, his nose twitching as his eyes looked around the room to find the source of the smell. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked excitedly.

"Mhmm," Judy replied, nodding her head and smiling. "Mom says they'll be ready within an hour. Wanna go outside for a bit?"

"Sure, Carrots," he said, standing up. His paw instinctively grabbed to cover his injured rib, and he winced a little before standing up fully. Judy tried to hide the look of concern that flashed across her face, but he noticed it. "Don't worry, I'm fine, it just hurts to stand up after laying down," he said, waving a paw at her. She relaxed, and then started walking towards the door, him trailing behind her a foot or so.

They stepped outside into the evening air, the sun slowly beginning to disappear over the mountains to the east. The air was orange and red, the two colors intertwining until they were almost the same. It reminded Judy of Nick's fur.

The two walked a ways into the fields until they came upon a clearing and Judy sat down and laid back to look up at the sky, the first stars just becoming visible. Nick sat down next to her and did likewise, putting his hands under his head.

"This is something," he said after a moment of looking up, more stars becoming visible by the minute.

"Told you," she said triumphantly. "Nothing compares." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, breathing in the clean, country air. She opened them again and looked over at Nick, who was still just staring up at the sky. She reached out her paw and touched his elbow. He looked over at her and she smiled at him. He smiled back and took his left paw out from under his head and found her right one with it. Her smile faded for a moment at the touch, and a nervous look splashed onto his face as his paw retreated slightly.

"Sorry Carrots, I didn't mean to-"

"No no, it's ok," she said quickly, her face becoming hot at her own words. "I don't mind," she said quietly. He slowly put his paw back out and she grasped it.

They both looked back up at the sky, the sun almost fully disappeared over the mountaintops now as the sky began erupting in all of its glory.

"Oh, oh look!" Judy said, pointing up with her free paw, "it's the police badge! I didn't realize it would be out this early in the year!"

Nick looked where she was pointing squinting his eyes. "Where?" he asked, his voice full of skepticism.

"Right there, dummy!" she said, pointing to it from in front of his face. "There's the top of it, there's the crest, and then there's the-"

"Ooh, I see it!" he said, his tone excited. "Wow, you really can see so many of them, it's kind of overwhelming for me," he said, his tone full of wonder.

His heart fluttered as a thought hit him. "Hey uh, Carrots?" he asked, his voice now unsure.

She looked over at him, her expression neutral. "What's up?" she asked, sounding a little concerned.

"Thanks for all of this," he said, not really saying what he had intended to. "It's really nice."

She smiled. "Of course, Slick," she said, looking back at the sky. A few more tense minutes passed, and Judy could sense that there was something else he wanted to say.

"I, uh, this all has gotten me thinking, you know?" he began, his voice uncharacteristically nervous sounding. She looked back at him. "I just, you know with everything that's uh, that's happened lately, what with getting assaulted and after your birthday, I just umm, I uh." His thoughts faltered. Judy sat up, and looked at him encouragingly, her own heart starting to beat rapidly in excitement.

"I just wanted to tell you that I, umm...I think I…."

"Yes?" she said quietly, her voice shaking a little form anticipation.

Nick sighed deeply and focused up on the stars. There were so many of them, and his mind kept flying back to that night on the balcony at Clawhauser's party, how they were so close and how Wolford had said that their "secret" was safe with him. Had it been that obvious to others, even then? What if Judy had always known and was just sparing his dignity by acting ignorant?

 _I've already begun,_ he thought. _No turning back now._

He looked at her finally, worry in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination.

"I think I love you, Judy." His eyes went wide when he said it, and he quickly looked back up at the sky, avoiding her gaze.

It took every bit of her willpower not to start stamping her feet in excitement.

"Hey, Nick?" she began, her voice shaking more than before. He looked at her, and she saw for a moment that he was fully gripped with fear at what she would say next. His heart was pounding. Had he said the wrong thing? Was she about to tell him, "thanks but I don't feel the same way" and shatter the dreams he'd been having for months now?

"I think I love you too," she said after a moment. His worry broke and he smiled huge, and sat up too.

"You do?" he asked, nervous and excited at the same time. She nodded, her smile growing by the second.

"Do I love you? Yes, yes I do," she said, and she scooted over to him in the dirt, and gave him a gentle kiss on the front of his muzzle. He closed his eyes, and slowly he returned it. They broke apart after a moment, and then laid back down on the field, their paws now fully intertwined between them.

"I love you, Judy," he said, letting out a sigh.

"I love you, too," she replied, and squeezed his paw in hers.

On rare occasions such as this, "I love you" is said nervously for the first time between two mammals starting a new journey together.

* * *

 **A/N: And there it is! Confessions are done! I wish I could say that nothing bad will happen, but then what's life without a little conflict? Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I had a good time writing it, and it really challenged my ability to pace the story and not lose focus of the endgoal. I'd had that scene between Bonnie and Judy in the kitchen in my head since about chapter 2, though they weren't always cleaning blueberries. Anyway, let me know what you all think! Have a great week!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The two of them stayed laying there in the field, looking up at the sky, for the next half hour, paws interlocked tightly and just talked and laughed and looked at the various constellations that had appeared above them. And kissed a bit more. Well, a lot more.

"Maybe," Judy said between kisses, "we should go back soon. I think," another bout of kissing, "the muffins might be done."

Nick pulled away, smirking, "Honestly Carrots, this is better." He leaned in and they started kissing again.

A moment later, Judy's phone started buzzing, and they separated, muzzles close together still, before Judy pulled back and looked down at her phone. It was a text from her mother.

 _Muffins are done!_

"She says the muffins are done," Judy said, still looking down at her phone, tapping out a quick message of acknowledgement. She turned to look at Nick and asked, "Wanna head back?"

He let out a small sigh and shrugged. "Sure," he said, standing up as quickly as he could in his condition. Judy also stood, and quickly reached out for his paw and took it in hers as she started leading him back towards the house.

"Did you mean it, by the way?" she asked, looking at him out of the corner of her eyes.

He turned to look down at her as they walked and asked quizzically, "Did I mean what?"

"That it was better than blueberry muffins," she asked, smirking.

Nick looked forward again, smirking. "You betcha," he said quietly, squeezing her paw lightly. She squeezed back.

After a few minutes they were back at the porch, and walked in together still holding paws. Judy saw her father first and saw his eyes dart to their interwoven paws, and then back to her and then quickly make his way to the kitchen where Bonnie was. Judy smirked, but hoped Nick hadn't noticed the look that Stu had given them.

 _Well this will be a fun conversation,_ she thought.

Judy let go of his paw as they walked into the kitchen, the smell of blueberry goodness overwhelming their senses, particularly Nick's.

He sniffed the air dramatically as they walked in, declaring, "That is the best smell I've ever had the pleasure of smelling."

Bonnie laughed as she placed what seemed to be the final baking pan out to cool, and said, "Why thank you dear, it is a lovely smell."

Nick and Judy helped Bonnie and Stu get the muffins out of the pans and into various containers to keep them fresh, with a dozen being placed out on a plate for those who were still up and about to enjoy. After all the extras were sealed up, Judy and Nick wasted no time helping themselves to a muffin each. Judy could tell by the way Nick ate his that he was thoroughly enjoying it and probably would have eaten the other ten if it wouldn't have been seen as impolite.

They both had another muffin, and while enjoying their second round, Judy noticed her parents had been silently talking with their eyes. She knew that despite her conversation earlier with her mother, she would have to probably do some explaining to her father about what he'd seen and what it meant. She assumed, however, that it was unlikely that her mother had not mentioned anything to him that day or on previous days. Surely, given how much time they knew she and Nick spent together, they must have considered the possibility? They were her parents, after all, and not distracted by insecurity and doubt about the situation like she was.

After finishing his muffin, Nick leaned in to whisper to Judy, "Hey, remember that shower I mentioned this morning? Think I could still get that?"

She nodded and turned to him, whispering, "Head back to the upper guest room and use the bathroom adjacent to it. It's a private bathroom so nobody will bother you."

He nodded, and reached for her paw under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Good luck," he whispered even more quietly to her and smiled. She squeezed his paw back, and let it go. He then excused himself from their company, and headed upstairs. Judy realized that at this point, it was just her and her parents left alone in the kitchen. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable and exposed.

The three of them made idle conversation for a few minutes about the muffins, about Gideon and his pies because how could they not come up, and about the kids. After running out of idle banter, the group fell into silence.

A few minutes passed completely quiet, and Judy just sat there playing with the remains of her muffin. Her thoughts were racing around her head, wondering how she would handle this conversation. She knew that her parents were smart rabbits and that they were accepting of many things. Out in the country, it tended to be easier to be less judgmental. All that mattered was what you could do more than anything else, and so it tended to be easier to break social norms than in the city. At the same time, sometimes in the country it was harder for folks to accept changes because without as many mammals around, exposure was less.

Just as the silent tension was beginning to become unbearable, Stu cleared his throat, and began speaking in a nervous tone. "So, uh, how's Nick enjoying being here?"

Judy smiled, appreciating that this conversation was starting out as it was, before saying, "I think he's really enjoying it. He seems more relaxed than I've seen him in a while, and given what happened to him the other day, it's just what we needed." Stu gave Bonnie a nervous glance at her use of the word "we" but she maintained her smile, as though she hadn't noticed. Bonnie at least did not look concerned at the parlance.

"That's great, sweetheart. I hope you know he's always welcome to come home with you in the future, injury or not," Bonnie said reassuringly, giving her daughter a loving smile.

"Yeah, of course Jude, that's right," Stu said a little too hastily. Judy didn't say anything, and decided instead to let whatever her father had to say come forth as it naturally would. After a moment, he cleared his throat again, and began speaking. "So Judy, I was just wondering if, you know, you and Nick were, uh, you know... _together._ "

Silence hung in the air for a moment, thick and stifling, as Judy's mind flailed for the right words in order to keep things calm and moving in the direction she wanted. After a moment, she spoke slowly and calmly. "Well, as you know we've been friends for some time," she began, "been through quite a lot together, and of course going through some very dangerous situations together certainly causes _feelings_ to come up and kind of take hold," she was starting to lose her calm and was getting a bit nervous, "and recently with everything that's been going on and a few other things," she smiled, thinking of her birthday, "we've become even closer, and so when I asked him to come down here with me this weekend, it was in the hopes that maybe our friendship and partnership would become something more," she played with her shirt a little, "and I so I guess the answer to your question might be yes?"

Judy hadn't noticed that her face had become a little hot and her ears were sticking straight up as she talked, and realized after she'd stopped speaking that she had really been more rambling than explaining.

Bonnie expertly kept the tension from rising, saying, "Well dear, whatever you two decide you are, we'll love you no matter what. Nicky has proven that he cares about you, so how else could I feel about it?" Judy noticed the way her mother kept her father separate from her feelings on the matter, which set her a little on edge suddenly.

Stu scrambled to keep things calm but clearly he had other thoughts, saying, "Yeah of course Jude we love you, but don't you think maybe you're moving a bit fast? I mean we just finally met him today-"

"I didn't just meet him today," Judy interrupted, snapping to attention at his words. She could feel the beginnings of anger swirling in her stomach. "I've known him for almost two years." The finality of her tone took Stu off guard. He looked at her with wider than normal eyes.

"Yes, yes of course dear, but what I'm trying to say is, are you _sure_ that he's who you-"

"Yes. I love him," she interrupted again.

Bonnie smiled softly as Stu choked on his words, "Y-you, you what?"

Judy's face fell into that half-lidded Nick smirk as she said, "I said, 'I love him.'"

Bonnie sighed and addressed Stu, "Honey we talked about this already before they got here, why are you surprised?"

Stu turned to look at her and said, "Bon they walked in holding _paws_ for cripe's sake-"

"So what?" she cut in. "Like I said, we talked about this. Last month when she wouldn't shut up about him-"

"Hey!" Judy exclaimed.

"-after some dinner for her birthday and yesterday after she called," Bonnie continued, unfazed by Judy's outburst. "I said, 'I think she's in love with him,' and you said 'Yeah probably.'"

"I didn't really think it was true! I mean Bon don't get me wrong, I'm just as accepting as the next rabbit, and Nick's a great mammal," he looked at Judy when he said that, but then looked back at Bonnie as he continued, "but he's a fox and it just, it doesn't seem right!"

Judy sat for a moment, trying to form a thought. She was definitely starting to get angry, but she didn't want to have a blow out with him right now, or ever really. Before she could formulate a coherent thought, her mother spoke up.

"Look, Stu," she said, her tone harsh and a bit frustrated sounding, "if you'd asked me two years ago before she left for the city if I wanted her to fall in love with a fox, I obviously would have said no. I want a huge litter of grandbabies just like any other rabbit, but he's here and not a rabbit and that's what Judy wants."

Stu sighed, and seemed frustrated himself. "Look, like I said, I like Nick, I really do. I just- aren't you afraid, Judy?"

And there it was. Finally he'd cut to the heart of the matter. It made Judy relax, because this was territory she could navigate.

"Honestly dad? In the way that you mean, I can't say that there isn't some primal part of me, deep down, that is afraid," she said, her voice strong. She continued, "That part of me will probably always be there, but with Nick, whenever that fear crops up, it's always overwhelmed by excitement, or joy, or whatever else _he_ makes me feel because it's him, not because of what he is. Did you know that nobody makes me laugh like he does? Did you know that nobody looks at me like he does?" She smiled, thinking about how nervous he'd looked outside just a bit ago. She went on, saying, "I needed him more than anyone when I went back to Zootopia and before I could do what was right for the city, I had to do what was right for him. I trusted him and he pulled through for me more than I could have ever expected. I could never truly fear him again after that."

Her parents both just looked at her in silence, Bonnie smiling sadly while Stu's face was scrunched up, concealing conflicting thoughts.

Judy thought back on that day at the museum, and how much she'd really expected he would have taken the case and run when she asked him to. Not because she thought little of him, but because it would have made the most sense for someone to have done. Even then, though, he had cared about _her_ more than the city, just as she had when she went to him instead of to Bogo with her new knowledge. Her thoughts were interrupted when her father began speaking.

"Judy, I only want what's best for you. If Nick is what's best for you," he paused, taking a deep breath before continuing on, "then Nick is what's best for you, and I will accept that. I'm not saying I'll love it right away, but I'm sure I'll learn to."

Judy got up and walked around the table to him, and leaned down to wrap her arms around him. "Thanks, dad," she said softly. She squeezed him tightly before letting go and turning to Bonnie, and hugged her too. "Thanks for believing in us," she whispered to her. Judy's appreciation for Bonnie was at an all time high in that moment.

She let Bonnie go and then turned to go sit back down. She checked her phone and saw that they'd been talking for quite some time, and she decided she should go check on Nick.

"I'll be back in a minute," she said, and pushed her chair in and headed up to the guest room. It didn't take her but a minute to get there, and when she opened the door, she saw Nick sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down into his paws which were folded up in his lap. She could see that his fur was still a bit damp, but dry enough that it seemed he'd been done showering for several minutes.

She looked at him quizzically and closed the door behind her. "What's up, Slick?" she asked, walking over to sit next to him. He looked at her, and she felt worried at the look on his face. Her heart began to race, worrying about what was troubling him.

"I uh, I heard a good bit of that chat," he said softly.

She sighed, putting her arm around his waist and scooting as close to him as she could. "Which part?" she asked.

He looked down again before saying, "I was heading back down to rejoin you when I heard you from down the hall say you loved me. I heard your mom and he go back and forth a little, and then I heard him ask if you were afraid of me." Judy squeezed him tightly, feeling enormously guilty, before he went on. "Then I heard what you said, and I could tell you said it without considering that I could be listening. It just…" he trailed off, getting lost in his thoughts for a moment. She nuzzled her head into his shoulder, trying to reassure him. "It just felt so nice to have someone talk about me the way you did," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He looked back at her and smiled, putting his arm around her and bringing her even closer.

"Well I meant it, every word," she said.

"I know," he replied.

"He's come a long way, you know," she said, her tone lightening a little. "Lightyears from fox tasers and repellents," she added, smirking up at him.

He smiled a bit, and said, "Yeah, I appreciated that he said he would do his best to be ok with it, with us."

"Plus," she said, "it helps that my mom believes in us."

He smiled a genuine smile at her words, and said, "That was nice to hear, I'm glad they like me. I really was worried, despite everything you said before we left to try and reassure me." Given what he'd overheard from Stu, he didn't feel that he was unjustified in his fears.

"I know," she said. "I mean, I didn't know we'd confess our feelings to each other, much as I'd hoped a romantic frolic under the stars would goad them out of us, but I knew that no matter what, they'd see you like I see you."

"Nobody sees me like you do," he said. He sighed. "I don't know where I'd be right now in life without you."

She looked up at him and smiled. "Probably still selling crappy popsicles," she said, her tone teasing and light.

He chuckled, and just squeezed her tightly again.

"I'm beat," he said, not letting her go.

She yawned and stretched with her free arm. "Me too," she said. "Wanna go tell them good night and then go to bed?"

"Sure," he said, standing up. "Where are we gonna sleep?"

She looked around the room they were in, contemplating it. "I know I told you to come up here to take a shower, but that was mostly so nobody would accidentally walk in on you or bug you. You're more than welcome to sleep with me in my room," she said, but then suddenly felt sheepish inviting him into her bed and added, "you know if you want to."

He didn't hesitate, saying, "I'd like that."

They walked paw in paw back downstairs and into the kitchen. Her parents were still sitting there, and had been whispering until they heard them rounding into the kitchen. Judy couldn't make out what they were saying but it sounded like a continuation of their conversation earlier.

"We're gonna go to sleep, it's been a long day," Judy said to them both.

"Alright sweetheart, you guys get some rest," Bonnie said gently.

"Thanks again for dinner, and for the muffins, and just for letting me stay here," Nick said politely.

"Of course, dear," Bonnie said.

"You're always welcome here, Nick," Stu said, his voice sincere. He smiled at them both.

Judy let go of Nick and walked over to give them both a good night hug and then they walked together holding paws down to her room.

When they got there, they took all of their stuff off of the bed, closing the bag back up as Nick had left it open when he had come to get a change of clothes out of it for after his shower. He stripped down to his boxers, and put on a pair of light gym shorts. She changed quickly into her pajamas with the smiling carrots on them that Nick decided he really liked, and they crawled into bed together. Judy curled up against Nick's chest and he wrapped his arms and tail around her.

They fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

It was nearly midnight. A medium sized warthog approached the front doors of the ZPD. His suit was crisp and freshly pressed, the pearlescent charcoal grey reflecting the lights of the station as he approached. He had a small tuft of graying fur atop his head that he had neatly combed. He opened the doors widely and strode up to the front desk and addressed a portly cheetah.

"I am here to see Mr. Le Chat," he said firmly.

The cheetah looked down at him briefly and blinked. "May I ask your name and purpose, sir?" he asked slowly.

"My apologies," the warthog said, bowing lightly. "I am Raymond Tusken, and I am Mr. Le Chat's lawyer. May I see him, please?"

The cheetah blinked a few times before saying, "I- uh, I'm not expecting you? Did you have an appointment?"

The warthog smiled gently, and said, "I apologize again, mister…?"

"Clawhauser," the cheetah said, his face furrowing in suspicion a little.

"Ah, well Officer Clawhauser, I am terribly sorry but I was only recently informed that my client was being held here, and had in fact been denied the opportunity for a lawyer during an interrogation conducted by Officer Hopps and Chief Bogo, correct?" said Tusken.

Clawhauser looked visibly flustered, and managed to say, "I uh, I have no comment on that sir, but would you like to see your client?"

"Yes, thank you," Tusken said, smiling.

Clawhauser scrambled around under the desk and pulled out a sign in sheet. He asked, "Do you need him brought to a room or will talking outside of his cell be ok?"

Tusken considered it for a moment, looking up from where he'd written his name on the sign in sheet, and then said, "No I think just talking at his cell will suffice for tonight." He smiled again and held his hands behind his back expectantly.

"Alright, just head straight down the stairs back there and go through the door on the right. Go all the way down and turn left. He's the only prisoner in that cell block, so you can speak privately if needed," Clawhauser said, pointing around and gesturing as he explained.

Tusken bowed slightly and said, "Thank you, officer."

The warthog took off at a brisk pace, and followed the directions he had been given. Within minutes, he was standing in front of Clyde's cell.

"Le Chat," he barked, his tone gruff.

The lynx looked over at the bars with a look of confusion. "Can I help you?" he asked.

Tusken looked down at his watch and pushed a button, and then looked back at Clyde. "Their surveillance equipment has been knocked out for the next five minutes, so this conversation is now private," he said, and stared angrily down at Clyde.

Clyde sat up and swiveled to sit on the edge of his bed. "I asked if I can help you?" he repeated, his tone getting angry.

"You let me down, Clyde," Tusken said, his tone dark and dangerous.

Suddenly, a look of abject terror came over Clyde's whole face.

"T-tusk! I didn't recognize you with the disguise. What are you," he stopped and got up, running over to the door, "what are you doing here?" His last words came out at a whisper.

Tusk reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, disc-like object and thrust it through the bars. "Take this," he said, and Clyde took it.

"What is this?" he said, turning it over in his paws and inspecting it. He saw one small button on the bottom.

"When I leave, set that down in the corner of your cell and push the button. It will release smoke and set off the building's fire alarm. They will be forced to evacuate. Once they've dumped the building, someone will be around to get you and Greg. Do not make any moves. We will make the moves," he said, his voice low. Clyde gulped and nodded quickly. "Do not press the button until I am safely out of the building. If it happens while I'm here, it'll be suspicious."

"Yeah sure thing, but why are you doing this?" Clyde asked, his tone full of fear.

Tusk smiled, which made Clyde even more nervous. "Our operation is currently compromised; I need to restore the flow."

Clyde nodded, looking again at the disc. "So just...push that button?"

"Yes. I'm going to leave right now, and I want you to push it after two minutes. I'll be outside and their surveillance equipment will still be down. Do you understand?" Tusk's voice was all business now.

"Yes, I understand," Clyde replied. Tusk nodded curtly and turned and walked away.

Tusk was back in the lobby in record time. "Good night, Officer Clawhauser. I will be calling tomorrow to set up an appointment for a full session," Tusk said as he walked briskly past the desk.

"I'll make a note of it!" Clawhauser said, raising his voice to be heard as Tusk walked quickly out the doors of the ZPD.

He walked back into the parking lot and stopped next to a trash can. He yanked at the tuft of fur atop his head and it came off with little effort. He tossed it in.

He continued to walk away from the station and yanked at his right tusk, snapping off the prosthetic tusk held on by a weak adhesive. He threw it in a dumpster in a nearby alleyway.

He stopped, and turned to look back at the station. He smiled as he looked at it.

The glow of fire reflected in his eyes as he saw the explosion rise up from the far side of the building. He basked in the gentle warmth, and enjoyed the rumbling sensation that passed under his feet.

"Good bye, Clyde," he said, and then turned to walk away.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay! I work at a movie theatre and Captain America really kicked our asses! This chapter was hard to write, as I have been thinking about where I want to take this story and so I was distracted with what I want to do, but still have to get them through Bunnyburrow. Hopefully everyone likes how the kitchen conversation went. My next update should come a lot sooner than this one did. Thanks for reading, and as always let me know what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

There were a few things in the world that Bogo liked.

A bomb in his police station was definitely not on the list.

He had received a call a quarter hour past midnight that there had been an explosion at the station. A frantic Clawhauser, panicked and distraught, had called him on his personal cell phone to relay the information. It wasn't until he had arrived at the station and the investigation got underway that things started coming into clearer focus.

A middle aged wolf with flecks of white in his gray fur was bent in front of the smoldering remains of Clyde Le Chat when Bogo approached him from the hallway.

"Report," he barked.

The wolf looked up, still crouched down, and locked eyes with the chief. He spoke after a moment. "Sir, one casualty, Clyde Le Chat, burned to death immediately I would presume, practically incinerated. The cause of the explosion was a small explosive device set down in the corner right next to the gas line just behind the wall. If he had placed it almost anywhere else in the cell, I can't imagine it would have done much more than blast a hole in the wall and make a small crater in the floor. However, this cell runs up to one of the gas lines, just between two close valves, so the explosion didn't compromise the entire system-"

"That seems awfully convenient," Bogo said, cutting off the other officer.

"Yes, sir, it seems that somehow Mr. Le Chat was placed here on purpose and then given an explosive device. Why he would use it voluntarily is a mystery," the wolf said.

Bogo frowned. "How did it get in here in the first place?"

The wolf continued his report. "Sir, I spoke with Officer Clawhauser before the Fire Department had deemed the building safe. He said that the only person who has been in and out of the station recently was a warthog named Raymond Tusken, reportedly Mr. Le Chat's lawyer."

"Tusken?" Bogo said, his voice suddenly taking on a tone of surprise. He couldn't be sure, but he suspected that this new player, Tusken, and their suspect Tusk might be the same individual.

The wolf nodded. "Yes, sir, that's what Officer Clawhauser said. The explosion happened maybe a minute after Mr. Tusken had exited the building, reportedly in a hurry. I would suspect that he provided the explosive device."

"Did you get a description from Clawhauser?" the chief asked.

"We tried, sir, but he was rather distraught. All we got was 'warthog with a nice suit' before he passed out again," the wolf replied.

 _A warthog?_ the chief thought.

"Do we have any surveillance footage of his face?" Bogo asked, impatience creeping into his voice.

"Undetermined, I came here after interviewing Officer Clawhauser. Lieutenant Brandt is reviewing surveillance footage at thi-" The wolf was cut off by his radio coming to life.

"Lieutenant Combs, this is Lieutenant Brandt, do you copy?" the voice of the tiger crackled out of the radio.

"Copy, Lieutenant Brandt, this is Combs, over," the wolf said.

"Surveillance is a negative, the server rack has been sabotaged. No footage can be recovered from the archive that hasn't already been committed to disc," Brandt said.

Silence fell between Bogo and Combs. They both looked at each other with shock on their faces. Chief Bogo spoke first.

"It would seem Mr. Tusken had an inside man," he said, his voice slow and his tone dangerous.

"Sir, it would appear that way," Combs replied, sounding sad. "There's no telling how long ago the server was rendered useless, the monitor would still run the live feed in a real time for anyone looking. With over one hundred cameras in the station, it's easy to go by unnoticed for just a few minutes."

Bogo sighed, and said, "I assume that someone has interviewed Officer Brooks, then?"

Combs nodded slowly, and said, "That was Brandt's first order of business. During the time in question, Brooks had been monitoring the east cell block and the mezzanine level. He told Brandt that Buckley was sound asleep the entire time until we had to evacuate the station."

"Where is that mangy antelope anyhow?" Bogo asked irritatedly, looking around as if he expected to see him nearby.

"He's still outside in temporary detainment with the other few detainees we had overnight. The rest were all booked tonight on minor charges," Combs said.

Bogo started to feel a sense of unease. He thought for a moment before speaking again. "How many total?"

"About fifteen, sir," Combs said.

"How many officers are out at temporary detainment?"

Combs hesitated before saying, "About four, sir."

"Are any of them intoxicated? What species are they?"

Combs started to look worried, and said, "No, sir, all involved in minor scuffles and assaults, all larger bears and felines except for one elephant. You don't think-"

"I'm not going to risk it," Bogo said, and turned to stalk off back out of the building to the temporary detainment area. Combs was hot on his tail.

They didn't get more than a few paces before their radios blared out: "10-71, shots fired, detainment is under attack! I repeat, detainment is under attack!"

The two didn't spare a glance at one another before breaking into an all out sprint to the front of the building. They were outside within a minute.

The scene before them was chaotic at best, although pandemonium was more accurate. As far as Bogo was concerned, things could not get much worse for them, considering that just a few hours prior, he had felt confident that his detectives could hunt down this "Tusk" and bring him in.

The detainment area was on fire, with gun shot bursts going off every couple of seconds as officers battled with assailants he could not see through the thick night and smoke. He ran over to where the officers were taking cover from the gunfire, and quickly took command.

"Report!" he shouted, and Lieutenant Grizzoli came forward.

"Sir," he began, "about three minutes ago, an unknown number of armed assailants opened fire on the temporary detainment guards, wounding Rackerts. Wolfortz is presumed dead. We have been yet unable to retrieve his body to confirm. Greg Buckley, Rupert Trunkford, Tracy Walsh, and Quinn Belfang went missing immediately, and the remaining dozen detainees began violently resisting the remaining officers. At this time, none of them are in our custody."

As Grizzoli recounted the situation, Bogo became more and more irate, his anger overtaking him.

"Get the bloody SWAT team out here, where are they?" he demanded.

"Currently en route, sir," Grizzoli said, still standing at attention, not betraying any of his own emotions.

Bogo grunted. "Any possibility this is connected to the murder of Clyde Le Chat?" he asked, addressing Combs.

The wolf shrugged slightly, and spoke loudly over the noise, "Sir, at this time I cannot say for certain, as I am not aware of any of these others being associated with Mr. Buckley or Mr. Le Chat. I'd imagine that we'll have our answers soon, though."

The chief nodded. He fixed his gaze over to a few police SUVs that were being used as makeshift battlements. Several officers were taking cover behind them as their attackers continued to fire at them. McHorn turned around and fired out several shots just as the next round of officers were finishing reloading and preparing to turn and fire. However, the gunshots from the enemy stopped.

 _Did he hit them?_ Bogo thought.

Bogo looked at where the enemy fire had been coming from, and saw nothing. Heard nothing. The officers waited like this, in tense silence, for fifteen minutes before venturing forward. The SWAT division arrived in the middle of the silence, and led the charge.

All they found was Wolfortz clinging to life, barely, and Quinn Belfang dead on the ground with a hole in his head.

* * *

Tusk observed the firefight with detached bemusement. Belfang and Walsh were leading the charge, spraying more than the necessary amount of bullets at the officers. The situation needed to come to a conclusion soon, though, or else they would be overrun and compromised.

Tusk did not like compromise.

He took a defensive position near Walsh, and spoke quietly. "We're leaving. Belfang can handle this," he said, and then got up to walk away. Walsh, a young cheetah in her late twenties, got up to follow as Belfang started firing again. Tusk and Walsh ran away into the nearby alleyways, and met up with Trunkford and Buckley. The remaining detainees had scattered to their various safe points.

They hardly noticed that in the distance, the gunfire stopped as Belfang was shot in the head.

"What now?" Trunkford said, looking expectantly at Tusk.

He looked back at the elephant and then addressed the group. "We leave for the safe house. We need to lay low for a few days. The ZPD is going to be out for Buckley because he's the one who got Le Chat and himself thrown in jail. The rest of you were booked but I doubt you're going to be as high of priorities. As for me, my help was able to disable their entire security footage database. The only one who will remember my face is Benjamin Clawhauser, and he won't describe me correctly."

The other three nodded grimly, and began to make their way into the heart of the downtown area. They stuck to back alleys to avoid being seen in clearer light.

They walked for some time, and it was now nearly 1:30 in the morning. Police cars had zipped by just outside of their lines of sight a few times, and sirens could be heard all over the city. A few times, they had to duck inside a dumpster as a helicopter went overhead, its strong search lights pointing in the darker alleys.

After another helicopter had passed overheard, Buckley addressed Tusk.

"Why did you kill Clyde? The failsafe if any of us got caught and needed to be busted out was to just smoke out the building," he said, concern in his voice. The idea that he might get blown up next had come to him a few times since they had evacuated around midnight.

"Le Chat was a moron and our newest addition. I have it on good authority that he told a more truthful story to Hopps and Bogo than you did, and betrayed too much in his desperation," Tusk said plainly. "Not to mention, I figured that tying up a loose end while simultaneously spooking the ZPD was a win-win. Our operation needs to get back underway."

Buckley still wasn't satisfied. "Still, I don't think that-"

"Silence," Tusk said, his voice deadly and quiet. He came to a stop in a four-way alley crossing, the only light illuminating them coming from the moon. "You should be counting your _fucking blessings_ that I chose to keep you on board after the lunacy you got yourself involved in. Assaulting Nick Wilde in broad fucking daylight? My god, the only way this could have been worse is if you'd done it to Judy Hopps instead!"

Buckely gulped, remembering that she had been his original target.

Tusk continued, his whisper more intense with each word, "It's bad enough you two were caught arguing by them. My source in the ZPD relayed that in their official report, they recounted that you _argued_ with them and chose to insult them and let them notice your ridiculous metal fucking tipped antlers. You know how the scheme works, and you let your greed get the better of you instead of being patient like you were _supposed to!_ The new recruits get ripped off until they prove their worth, and then we let them in!"

Walsh, Tunkford, and Buckley all stood stock still, terrified at the way that Tusk was talking. Buckley also began to fear that Tusk knew about Amelie and what Hopps had said to him.

"I'm sorry, Tusk," he said quietly, looking down at the ground. The warthog chuffed and started walking again.

"It's just as well you let me eliminate Le Chat like this. My source tells me that he started unraveling our web a bit once he was informed we were dealing in Night Howlers," Tusk said quietly.

They continued on for another hour, finally making it to their safe house on the border of Savannah Central and the Rainforest District. It was an old warehouse for the Foxtrot Corporation, and hadn't been visited by anyone from the company in years. The area was inspected before being deemed fit for their occupancy. Exhausted, the four of them quickly found a sleeping area and rested.

* * *

Judy groaned as her phone kept going off. She had ignored the first call without looking at the caller when she silenced it. However, they were calling again and against her better judgment, she picked it up and saw that it was Chief Bogo's personal cell number. She then looked at the time and saw that it was 12:43am.

"Cheese and crackers, what could he possibly want at this hour?" she groaned, sitting up in her bed. Somehow, Nick had remained undisturbed from the noise. She answered the phone and croaked out, "Hello?"

"Hopps," came the Chief's voice. She instantly picked up that something was wrong; he sounded out of breath and...panicked?

"Sir?" she replied.

"Hopps, there's been an attack on the ZPD," he said and she gasped while he continued, "Clyde Le Chat has been murdered, Wolfortz is in critical condition at the hospital and Greg Buckley has been busted out."

"Sir, oh my god, I…" she said, her voice trailing off. Nick finally began to stir. He groaned a little and opened his eyes, already adjusted to the darkness, and saw the look of worry on her face. He sat up and put an arm around her.

"To make things worse, we apparently have a double agent in our ranks," he said, anger seeping into his voice now. "Someone made sure that Clyde Le Chat was in a cell that was near a gas line, and then also managed to sabotage the entire security footage database. We have no footage recorded from the entire night, not to mention most footage from the last 60 days is completely destroyed also."

Judy's eyes went wide and she spoke quietly, "Sir...someone betrayed us?" Nick's ears perked up at that. His hearing was good, but he couldn't really make out what was being said on the other side of the phone. Talk of betrayal, however, concerned him deeply.

"Indeed," he said solemnly, the anger giving way to defeat. "In my twenty five years as a police officer, I've never had anything like this happen." He sighed heavily. "Anyway, I called you because I need you and Wilde back sooner than Monday. Take the rest of today and come back tomorrow in the evening. We're going to have to do a lot of questioning to find our mole and extract whoever it is. I'm going to need you and Wilde more than I'd care to admit."

Judy nodded, despite the fact that the chief couldn't see her, and said, "Yes, sir, I understand completely. Thank you for telling me what happened so I wouldn't have to see it on the news in the morning. Are...are you ok?"

The chief snorted on the other end. "I'm fine, Hopps. So is Clawhauser, since I'm sure you're wondering."

"I was," she admitted quietly.

"Well don't worry about anyone besides Wolfortz. He's going to be lucky to pull through. Rackerts is already on his feet-"

"John was hurt too?" she exclaimed, interrupting the chief.

He let out a huff and continued, "Yes, but as I said, he's on his feet so he's fine." A short pause. "That was all I had for you. Relax as much as you can for the rest of your vacation. I need you at one hundred and ten percent when you get back, and I need Wilde at least at fifty. Good night," he said and then the call ended. Judy slowly let the phone fall from her ear. After a few minutes of silence, Nick cleared his throat.

"I, uh, I tried not to eavesdrop but all I got out of that was Bogo, betrayal, and John Rackerts being hurt?" he said, his tone sarcastic but full of worry. He was friendly toward the rhino.

Judy sighed, and said, "Someone attacked the ZPD, killed Clyde, broke out Buckley, and nearly killed Wolfortz. He's in critical condition and Bogo doesn't seem to think he'll make it." Nick's eyes went wide, and his ears pinned back against his head.

"Trent's strong," he said, his ears sticking back up in determination. "He'll make it." He squeezed Judy closer to him, pressing his muzzle against the side of her head. "Any idea who did it?" he whispered into her fur, letting his fear show a little.

"No," she said, "at least not that he mentioned. Although if I had to guess, I'm sure this 'Tusk' that Buckley and Le Chat told us about is involved. He's the only connection between the two of them."

Nick just kept holding onto her, not saying anything. He could feel her heartbeat and it seemed faster than normal, even for a bunny. They sat in silence, just holding each other, for a few minutes.

"I'm scared, Nick," Judy said quietly, finally breaking the silence. "I'm scared that more of our friends are going to get hurt, or worse...and I'm scared that maybe you might be one of the ones getting hurt again." She took in a shuddering breath.

All of her fears over Nick getting hurt came surging back, and hit her harder with the images of a wounded Rackerts and Wolfortz in her mind. She suddenly imagined that all three of them were laying out on the ground, bleeding, in pain, dying….

She let out a single choked sob, and caught it in her throat. Nick gave her a quick squeeze and nuzzled against her cheek. That was all it took to get her to break down and start crying.

"I'm scared, too, Carrots," he said quietly, petting the top of her head as she cried. "But I know that we're better than whoever these assholes are, and I know for _damn_ sure that you, Bogo, and I are gonna find whatever...scumfuck prick betrayed us and did this to John and Trent."

Nick didn't have a ton of friends at the ZPD. Judy, obviously, Clawhauser too, Delgato, Fangmire, Wolford, McHorn, Higgins, Grizzoli despite his promotion, but he had also grown to like Rackerts and Wolfortz lately. He had never held on to many friends when he had been conning mammals, because it wasn't easy to trust someone who made a living by lying and get close to them. At the ZPD though, mammals saw him for who he felt he was, and they liked him for it. Eventually, he started liking them too.

As he cradled Judy, who continued to sob quietly, he thought of only two things: keeping her safe, and getting that son of a bitch.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry I took so long to update. It's been a busy few weeks and this chapter was incredibly hard to write. I hope it was entertaining! Let me know your thoughts. Happy Monday!**


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